UC-NRLF 


II 


B    3    322    26=1 


§txq  §nss|t  ^lilies. 


as  a 


Philosopher  an&  jR^nnet;. 


Sottyacm. 


[Price:  Sl.OO,  Papcr.-ftl.23,  Cloth.: 


V 


"A  voice  like  flowers  and  music  sweetly  blended. 
A  fragile  form,  but  beauteous  as  Apollo's  ; 
A  soul  of  light  by  the  Three  Graces  tended, 
Eyes  like  young  Dian's,  when  the  deer  she  follows 
Over  the  emerald  lawns  and  sylvan  hollows. 
Such  wert  thou,  Shelley,  minstrel  heaven-descended." 

KE^KALY. 


PERCY   BYSSHE   SHELLEY 


AS  A 


Philosopher  and  Reformer, 


BY 


CHARLES    SOTHERAN, 


INCLUDING    AN    ORIGINAL    SONNET 


BY 


Charles    W.     Fr^ederjckson, 


TOGETHER  WITH 


A    PORTRAIT     OF    SHELLEY    AND     A    VIEW    OF     HIS    TOMB. 


"Let  us  see  the  Truth,  -whatever  that  may  he."— Shelley,  1822. 


NEW    YORK: 
CHARLES    P.    SOMERBY,     139    EIGHTH    STREET. 

1876. 


Entered,  accordiug  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1876,  by 

Charles  Sothera^', 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


EDWARD  O.  JENKINS, 

PRINTER  AND   STEREOTYPES, 

20  North  William  Street,  N.  Y 


TO 

CHARLES    WILLIAM    FREDERI  C  KS  O  N, 

OF    NEW    YORK. 


Dear  Fkiend: 

As  in  ancient  times,  none  were  allowed  participation  in  the 
Higher  Mysteries,  without  having  proved  their  fitness  for  the 
reception  of  esoteric  truth,  so  in  these  days  only  those  seem  to 
be  permitted  to  breathe  the  hidden  essence  in  Shelley,  who  have 
realized  the  acute  phases  of  spiritality.  Among  the  few  who  have 
enjoyed  these  bi-fold  gifts,  none  have  had  more  fortuitous  experi- 
ence than  yourself,  to  whom  I  now  take  the  liberty  of  dedicating 

this  volume. 

Yours  fraternally, 

Charles     SOTUER-O.'. 
Deo3mber,  1875. 


663594 


view  of  Shelley's  tomb,  in  the  protestant  cemetery,  at  rome. 
from  a  sketch  by  a.  j.  strutt. 


"  To  see  the  sun  shining  on  its  bright  grass,  and  hear  the  whispering  of  the  wind  among 
the  leaves  of  the  trees,  which  have  overgrown  the  tomb  of  Cestius,  and  the  6oil  which  is 
6tirring  in  the  sun-warm  earth,  and  to  mark  the  tombs,  mostly  of  women  and  young 
children,  who,  buried  there,  we  might,  if  we  were  to  die,  desire  a  sleep  they  6eem  to 
sleep.  "—Shelley. 


Jn  the  Jftewartj 

OF 

PERCY   BYSSHE    SHELLEY, 

BT 

CHAKLES    W.    FEEDERICKSON. 

Amid  tlie  ruins  of  majestic  Rome, 

That  told  the  story  of  its  countless  years, 

I  stood,  and  wondered  by  the  silent  dust 

Of  the  "Eternal  Child."     Oh,  Shelley  ! 

To  me  it  was  not  given  to  know  thy  face, 

Save  through  the  mirrored  pages  of  thy  works ; 

Those  whisper' d  words  of  wood  and  wave,  are  to  mine  ears, 

Sweet  as  the  music  of  ocean's  roar,  that  breaks  on  sheltered  shores. 

Thy  sterner  words  of  Justice,  Love  and  Truth, 

Will  to  the  struggling  soul  a  beacon  prove, 

And  barrier  against  the  waves  of  tyranny  and  craft. 

;Then  rest,  "  Cor  Cordittm,"  and  though  thy  life 

Was  brief  in  point  of  years,  its  memory  will  outlive 

The  column'd  monuments  around  thy  tomb. 


New  York,  Nov.  25,  1875. 
My  Dear  Sothkran  :— 

The  copy  of  the  lines  on  our  Beloved  Poet,  which  you  requested,  are  entirely 

•it  your  service — make  what  use  of  them  you  please. 

Yours,  sincerely, 

C.    W.    FREDERICKSON. 


PEECY  BYSSHE  SHELLEY,  AS  A  PHILGSO''  L83D 

REFORMER. 

A   PAPER   EEAD   BEFORE  THE   XEW   YORK   LIBERAL    CLUB, 
ON   ERIDAY,    AUGUST   6TII,    1875. 

"  Let  us  see  the  Truth,  whatever  that  may  be." — Shelley,  1S22. 

Mr.  Vice-President  and  Members  of  the  Liberal  Club  : 

"  The  Blood  of  the  Martyr  is  the  Seed  of  the  Church."  Per- 
secution ever  fails  in  accomplishing  its  desired  ends,  and  as  a  rule 
lays  the  foundations  broad  and  deep  for  the  triumph  of  the  ob- 
jects of  and  principles  inculcated  by  the  persecuted. 

Driven  from  their  homes  by  fanatical  tyranny,  not  permil 
to  worship  as  they  thought  fit,  a  band  of  noble  and  earnest,  yet 
on  some  points  mistaken  men,  were,  a  little  over  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago,  landed  on  this  continent  from  the  good  ship 
'•Mayflower."  The  "Pilgrim  Fathers"  were,  in  their  native 
land,  refused  liberty  of  conscience  and  freedom  of  discussion  ; 
their  apparent  loss  was  our  gain,  for  if  it  had  not  been  for  that 
despotism,  and  the  corresponding  re-action,  which  made  those 
stern  old  zealots  give  to  others  many  of  the  inalienable  rights  of 
liberty  denied  to  themselves,  you  and  I  could  not  to-nighl 
haps  be  allowed  to  meet  face  to  face,  without  fear,  to  discuss 
metaphysical  and  social  questions  in  their  broadest  aspects,  with- 
out the  civil  or  theological  powers  intervening  to  close  our 
mouths. 

"  Fragile  in  health  and  frame  ;  of  the  purest  habits  in  morals  ; 
full  of  devoted  generosity  and  universal  kindness:  glowing 
with  ardor  to  attain  wisdom  :  resolved  at  every  personal  sacri 
to  do  right ;  burning  with  a  desire  for  affection  and  sympat 
a  boy-under-graduate  of  Oxford,  described  as  of  tall,  delicate, 
and  fragile  figure,  with  large  and  lively  eyes,  with  expressive, 
beautiful  and  feminine  features,  with  head  covered  with  long, 
brown  hair,  of  gracefulness  and  simplicity  of  manner,  the  heir  to 


2  PERCY  BYSSHE  SHELLEY. 

a  title  and  the  representation  of  one  of  the  most  ancient  English 
families,  which  numbered  Sir  Philip  Sidney  on  its  roll  of  illus- 
trious names,  just  sixty-four  years  ago,  and  in  this  nineteenth 
century,  for  nc  licentiousness,  violence,  or  dishonor,  but,  for  his  re- 
fusal to  criminate  himself  or  inculpate  friends,  was,  without  trial, 
expelled  by  lea^ied  divines  from  his  university  for  writing  an 
argumentativ  e  thesis,  which,  if  it  had  been  the  work  of  some  Greek 
philosopher,  would  have  been  hailed  by  his  judges  as  a  fine 
specimen  of  profound  analytical  abstruseness— for  that  expulsion 
are  we  the  debtors  to  theological  charity  and  tolerance  for 
"  Queen  Mab." 

Excommunicated  by  a  mercenary  and  abject  priesthood,  cast  off 
by  a  savage  father,  the  admirer  of  that  gloomy  theology  founded 
by  the  murderer  of  Michael  Servetus,  and  charged  by  his  jeal- 
ous brother  writers  as  one  of  the  founders  of  a  Satanic  School, 
for  neither  immorality  of  life  nor  breach  of  the  parental  re- 
lation, but  for  heterodoxy  to  an  expiring  system  of  dogmatism, 
and  for  acting  on  and  asserting  the  right  of  man  to  think 
and  judge  for  himself,  a  father  was  to  have  two  children 
torn  from  him,  in  the  sacred  name  of  law  and  justice,  by  the 
principal  adviser  of  a  dying  madman,  "  Defender  of  the  Faith, 
by  Law  Established,"  and  by  us  despised  as  the  self-willed 
tyrant,  who  lost  America  and  poured  out  human  blood  like  water 
to  gratify  his  lust  of  power.  By  that  Lord  Chancellor  whose 
cold,  impassive  statue  has  a  place  in  Westminster  Abbey,  where 
Byron's  was  refused  admittance,  and  whose  memory,  when  that 
stone  has  crumbled  into  dust,  will  live  as  one  who  furnished  an 
example  for  execrable  tyranny  over  the  parental  tie,  and  that 
Lord  Eldon  whom  an  outraged  father  curses  in  imperishable 
verse : 

"  By  thy  most  impious  hell,  and  all  its  terrors  ; 
By  all  the  grief,  the  madness  and  the  guilt 
Of  thine  impostures,  which  must  be  their  errors, 

That  sand  on  which  thy  crumbling  power  is  built  ; 
$  $  $  ♦  *  ♦ 

By  all  the  hate  which  checks  a  father's  love  ; 

By  all  the  scorn  which  kills  a  father's  care  ; 
By  those  most  impious  hands  that  dared  remove 
Nature's  high  bounds — by  thee,  and  by  despair. 

"  Yes,  the  despair  which  bids  a  father  groan, 
And  cry,  '  my  children  are  no  longer  mine. 


PERCY  BYSSHE  BHELLET.  3 

The  blood  within  those  veins  may  be  mine  own, 
But,  tyrant,  their  polluted  souls  are  thine.' 

"I  curse  thee,  though  I  hate  thee  not.     O  slave  ! 

If  thou  could'st  quench  the  earth  consuming  hell 
Of  which  thou  art  a  demon,  on  thy  grave 

This  curse  should  be  a  blessing.     Fare  thee  well." 

Sad  as  it  is  to  contemplate  any  human  being  in  his  agony  mak- 
ing use  of  such  language  to  another  ;  and  however  much  we  may 
sympathize  with  the  poet,  yet  we  cannot  but  have  inward]  \  a 
feeling  of  rejoicing ;  for,  if  it  had  not  been  for  this  unheard  of 
villainy,  we  should  probably  never  have  had  the  other  magnifi- 
cent poetry  and  prose  of  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley  composed  dur- 
ing his  self-imposed  ostracism,  and  which  furnish  such  glorious 
thoughts  for  the  philosopher,  and  keen  trenchant  weapons  for 
the  reformer. 

Have  any  of  my  hearers  ever  stood,  in  the  calm  of  a  summer 
evening,  in  Shelley's  native  land,  listening  to  the  lovely  warble 
of  the  nightingale,  making  earth  joyful  with  its  unpremeditated 
strains,  and  the  woods  re-echo  with  its  melody?  Or  gazed  up- 
wards with  anxious  ken  towards  the  skylark  careering  in  the 
"  blue  ether,"  far  above  this  sublunary  sphere  of  gross,  sensual 
earth,  there  straining  after  immortality,  and 

"  Like  a  poet  hidden, 

In  the  light  of  thought, 
Singing  hymns  unbidden, 
Till  the  world  is  wrought 
To  sympathy  with  hopes  and  fears,  it  heeded  not," 

pouring  out  such  bursts  of  song  as  to  make  one  almost  worship 
and  credit  the  fables,  taught  in  childhood  at  ourmothers'  knees,  of 
the  angelic  symphonies  of  heavenly  choirs.  Such  was  the  poetry 
of  Shelley  ;  and  as  the  music  of  the  nightingale  or  the  skylark 
is  far  exceeding  in  excellence  that  of  the  other  members  of  the 
feathered  kingdom,  so  does  Shelley  rank  as  a  poet  far  above  all 
other  poets,  making  even  the  poet  of  nature,  the  great  Words- 
worth himself,  confess  that  Shelley  was  indeed  the  master 
of  harmonious  verse  in  our  modern  literature.  It  is  broadly  laid 
down  in  the  Marvinian  theory  that  all  poets  are  insane. 
T  would  much  like  to  break  a  lance  with  the  learned  Professor 
of  Psychology  and  Medical  Jurisprudence  ;  but  as  the  overthrow 
of  this  dogma  does  not  come  within  the  scope  of  my  essay,  I 
would  suggest  to  those  who  may  have  been  influenced  by  that 


4  PERCY  BYSSHE  SHELLEY. 

paper  to  read  Shelley's  "Defence  of  Poetry."  I  shall  quote 
two  extracts  therefrom,  each  pertinent  to  my  subject.  The  first 
describes  the  function  of  the  poet : 

"  But  poets,  or  those  who  imagine  and  express  this  indestructible  order,  are  not  only 
the  authors  of  language  and  of  music,  of  the  dance,  and  architecture,  and  statuary,  and 
painting  ;  they  are  the  institutors  of  laws,  and  the  founders  of  civil  society,  and  the  inventors 
of  the  arts  of  life,  and  the  teachers,  who  draw  into  a  certain  propinquity  with  the  beauti- 
ful and  the  true,  that  partial  apprehension  of  the  agencies  of  the  invisible  world,  which  is 
called  religion." 

The  other  is  in  extension  of  the  same  idea,  and  concludes  the 
essay  : 

"Poets  are  the  hierophants  of  an  unapprehended  inspiration  ;  the  mirrors  of  the  gigan- 
tic shadows  which  futurity  casts  upon  the  present  ;  the  words  which  express  what  they 
understand  not ;  the  trumpets  which  sing  to  battle  and  feel  not  what  they  inspire  ;  the  in- 
fluence which  is  moved  not,  but  moves.  Poets  are  the  unacknowledged  legislators  of  the 
world." 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  for  treating  Shelley  as  a 
philosopher,  I  shall  be  attacked  with  great  ' '  positivism ' '  by  the 
disciples*  of  manufacturers  of  bran-new  Brummagen  philosophies 
dug  out  of  Aristotelian  and  other  depths  to  which  are  added 
new  thoughts,  not  their  own.  The  reason  which  David  Masson 
offers  in  his  "Recent  British  Philosophy"  for  placing  Alfred 
Tennyson  among  the  same  class  is  equally  applicable  now : 

"  To  those  who  are  too  strongly  possessed  with  our  common 
habit  of  classifying  writers  into  kinds,  as  historians,  poets,  scien- 
tific and  speculative  writers,  and  so  on,  it  may  seem  strange  to 
include  Mr.  Tennyson  in  this  list.  But  as  I  have  advisedly  re- 
ferred to  Wordsworth  as  one  of  the  representatives  and  powers 
of  British  philosophy  in  the  age  immediately  past,  so  I  advisedly 

*  If  Diogenes  or  Socrates,  leaving  High  Olympus  and  sweet  converse  with  the  immor- 
tals, were  to  condescend  to  visit  New  York  some  Friday  evening,  I  am  sadly  afraid  they 
would  be  astounded  at  many  of  their  would-be  brothers  in  philosophy.  On  seeing  the 
travestie  of  ancient  academies  and  groves  where  the  schools  used  to  congregate,  the  dia- 
logues consisting  of  bald  atheism  under  sheep's  clothing  to  trap  the  unwary,  and  'ermed 
"  The  Religion  of  Humanity,"  of  abuse  and  personality  in  lieu  of  argument,  of  buffoonery 
called  wit,  of  airing  pet  hobbies  alien  to  the  subject  instead  of  disputating,  of  shouting  vulgar 
claptrap  instead  of  rhetoric,  etc.  —  I  sadly  fear  these  stout  old  Greeks,  having  power  for  the 
nonce,  would,  throwing  philosophy  to  the  dogs  in  a  moment  of  paroxysmal  indignation, 
despite  physiognomies  trained  to  resemble  their  own,  have  these  fellows  casked  up  in  tubs 
without  lanterns,  but  with  the  appropriate  "  snuffers,"  fit  emblems  of  their  faiths,  and  drop- 
ped far  outside  Sandy  Hook.  A  proper  finale  to  the  vapid  utterance  made  by  one  of 
these  gentry  that  all  "  Reformers  should  be  annihilated."  Imagine  Plato  or  Epicurus 
offeiing  such  a  suggestion.     O  tempora  !  O  mores  ! 


PERCY  BTSSHE  SHELLEY.  5 

named  Tennyson  as  succeeding  him  in  the  same  character. 
Though,  it  is  not  power  of  speculative  reason  alone  that  consti 
tutes  a  poet,  is  it  not  felt  that  the  worth  of  a  port  essentially  is 
measured  by  the  depth  and  amount  of  his  speculative 
son?  Even  popularly,  do  we  not  speak  of  every  great  poet 
as  the  exponent  of  the  spirit  of  his  age?  What  else  can  this 
mean  than  that  the  philosophy  of  his  age,  its  spirit  and  heart  in 
relation  to  all  the  great  elemental  problems,  find  expression  in 
his  verse  ?  Hence  I  ought  to  include  other  poets  in  this  list, 
and  more  particularly  Mr.  Browning  and  Mrs.  Browning,  and  the 
late  Mr.  Clough.  But  let  the  mention  of  Mr.  Tennyson  sng 
such  other  names,  and  stand  as  a  sufficient  protest  against  our 
absurd  habit  of  omitting  such  in  a  connection  like  the  present.  As 
if,  forsooth,  when  a  writer  passed  into  verse,  he  were  to  be  aban- 
doned as  utterly  out  of  calculable  relationship  to  all  on  this 
side  of  the  boundary,  and  no  account  were  to  he  taken  of  his 
thoughts  and  doings,  except  in  a  kind  of  curious  appendix  at  the 
end  of  the  general  register?  What  if  philosophy,  at  a  certain 
extreme  range,  and  of  a  certain  kind,  tends  of  necessity  to  | 
into  poesy,  and  can  hardly  help  being  passionate  and  metrical '. 
If  so,  might  not  the  omission  of  poets,  purely  as  being  such, 
from  a  conspectus  of  the  speculative  writers  of  any  time,  lead 
to  erroneous  conclusions,  by  giving  an  undue  prominence  in  the 
estimate  of  all  such  philosophizing  as  could  most  easily,  by  its 
nature,  refrain  from  passionate  or  poetic  expression  '.  Thus, 
would  philosophy,  or  one  kind  of  philosophy  in  compari 
with  another,  have  seemed  to  had  been  in  such  a  diminis 
condition  in  Britain  about  the  year  1830,  if  critics  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  counting  Wordsworth  in  the  philosophic  list  as  well 
as  Coleridge,  Mackintosh,  Bentham,  and  James  Mill  \  Was  there 
not  more  of  what  you  might  call  Spinozaism  in  Wordsworth  than 
even  in  Coleridge,  who  spoke  more  of  Spinoza  i  But  that  hardly 
needs  all  this  justification,  so  far  as  Mr.  Tennyson  is  concerned, 
of  our  reckoning  J/inim  the  present  list.  He  that  would  exclude 
In  "Memoriam"  (1850)and  "Maud"  I  : :  om  the  conspectusof 
the  philosophical  literature  of  our  time,  has  yet  to  learn  what  phi- 
losophyis.  Whatever  else  "In  Memoriam"  maybe,  it  is  a  manual 
for  many  of  the  latest  hints  and  questions  in  British  Meta- 
physics." 
The  soidisant  philosophers  and  classifiers  of  the  sciences  and 


6  PEECT   BTSSHE   SHELLEY. 

arts  who  will  not  permit  such  poets  as  Shelley  and  Tennyson  to 
be  put  in  the  category  of  philosophers,  remind  one  very  forcibly 
of  the  passage  in  Macbeth  :  "The  earth  has  bubbles,  as  the  water 
has,  and  these  are  of  them  I" 

As  a  poet  and  not  as  a  poet,  as  an  acknowledged  legislator  for 
the  race,  as  a  philosopher,  (a  searcher  after,  or  lover  of  wisdom) 
and  as  a  political  and  social  reformer,  it  is  my  intention  to  treat 
Shelley  this  evening,  and  having  finished  my  prefatory  re- 
marks, will  now  regard  him  in  those  attributes  which  peculiarly 
should  enshrine  him  in  your  hearts  and  mine. 

The  philosophical  theories  of  advanced  thinkers  are  always 
tinged  with  the  reflex  of  that  which  called  them  forth,  or  im- 
peded them  in  their  development,  consequently  social  bondage 
and  the  "anarch  custom"  being  always  present  to  Shelley,  the 
great  idea  ever  uppermost  to  him  was  that  true  happiness  is 
only  attainable  in  perfect  freedom  :  the  atrocious  system  of  fag- 
ging, now  almost  extinct  in  the  English  Public  Schools  and  the 
tyrannical  venality  of  ushers,  deeply  impressed  themselves  on 
the  mind  of  Shelley,  and  he  tells  us,  in  the  beautiful  lines  to  his 
wife,  of  the  remembrance  of  his  endeavors  to  overthrow  these 
abominations  having  failed,  of  flying  from  "the  harsh  and 
grating  strife  of  tyrants  and  of  foes  "  and  of  the  high  and  noble 
resolves  which  inspired  him  : 

"And  then  I  clasp'd  my  hands,  and  look'd  around ; 
But  none  were  near  to  mock  my  streaming  eyes, 
Which  pour'd  their  warm  drops  on  the  sunny  ground. 
So,  without  shame,  I  spake  :  '  I  will  be  wise. 
And  just,  and  free,  and  mild,  if  in  me  lies 
Such  power ;  for  I  grow  weary  to  behold 
The  selfish  and  the  strong  still  tyrannize 
Without  reproach  or  check.'     I  then  controll'd 
My  tears  ;  my  heart  grew  calm  ;  and  I  was  meek  and  bold. 

"And  from  that  hour  did  I,  with  earnest  thought, 
Heap  knowledge  from  forbidden  mines  of  lore  ; 
Yet  nothing  that  my  tyrants  knew  or  taught, 
I  cared  to  learn  ;  but  from  that  secret  store 
Wrought  linked  armor  for  my  soul,  before 
It  might  walk  forth,  to  war  among  mankind. 
Thus,  power  and  hope  were  strengthen'd  more  and  more 
Within  me,  till  there  came  upon  my  mind 
A  sense  of  loneliness,  a  thirst  with  which  I  pined." 

The  fruits  born  of  this  seed  are  discernible  in  every  line  of 


PERCY    BYSSHE   8HELLEY.  7 

hisworks.  While  having  all  reverence  for  his  college  compani 
Aristotle,  iEschylus,  and  Demosthenes,  his  mind  instinctively 
turns  towards  the  deemed  heretical  works  of  the  later  French 
philosophers,  D'Holbach,  Condillac,  La  Place,  Rousseau,  the  en- 
cyclopaedists, and  other  members  of  that  school.  His  intellect 
he  furbishes  with  stores  of  logic  and  of  chemistry,  in  which  his 
greatest  love  was  to  experimentalize  ;  of  botany  and  asl  ronomy, 
in  which  he  was  more  than  a  mere  adept ;  from  Hume,  too,  whose 
essay  on  "Miracles,"  wrong  as  it  is  in  the  main  on  many  impor- 
tant points,  was  one  of  the  alphas  of  his  creed — and  with  deep 
draughts  from  his  great  instructor,  Plato,  of  whom  he  always 
spoke  with  the  greatest  adoration,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  prel 
to  the  Symposium  : 

"  Plato  is  eminently  the  greatest  among  the  Greek  philosophers  ;  and  from,  or  rather 
perhaps  through  him  and  his  master,  Socrates,  have  proceeded  those  emanations  of  moral  and 
metaphysical  knowledge,  on  which  a  long  series  and  an  incalculable  variety  of  popular 
superstitions  have  sheltered  their  absurdities  from  the  slow  contempt  of  mankind." 

It  is  desirable  to  call  attention  to  the  great  minds  from  whom 
the  student  of  the  early  part  of  this  century  could  only  cull  his 
knowledge — he  had  no  Spencer  and  no  Mill,  at  whose  feet  to 
sit — he  had  in  science  none  of  the  conclusions  of  Darwin,  of 
Huxley,  of  Tyndall,  of  Murchison,  of  Lyell,  to  refer  to,  and 
yet  I  think,  that  the  careful  reader  will,  like  myself,  find  }>r<- 
figured  in  Shelley' s  works  much  of  that  of  which  the  world  is 
in  full  possession  to-day,  and  which  the  mystical  Occnltists, 
Rosicrucians,  and  Cabalists  have  now,  and  have  ever  had,  con- 
joined to  a  mysterious  command  over  the  active  hidden  material 
and  spiritual  powers  in  the  infinite  domain  of  nature. 

The  idea  of  the  Supreme  Power  or  God,  as  emamting  from 
Shelley,  is  one  of  the  most  sublime  to  be  found  in  the  pagi 
metaplrysical  learning  at  the  command  of  ordinary  mortals.  By 
many  it  may  be  considered  only  a  vague  pantheism  ;  yet,  rightly 
regarded  in  a  reconciliative  spirit,  it  is  of  such  an  universal  char- 
acter as  to  harmonize  with  not  only  Deism,  Theism  and  Poly- 
theism, but  even  Atheistical  Materialism.  Listen  to  the  follow- 
ing, which  I  select  out  of  numerous  examples,  as  a  finger-post 
for  others  who  seek  the  living  springs  of  undefiled  truth,  as 
in  Shelley: 

"Whosoever  is  free  from  the  contamination  of  luxury  and  license  may  go  forth  to  the 
fields  and  to  the  woods,  inhaling  joyous  renovation  from  the  breath  of  Spring,  and  catch 


8  PERCY   BYSSHE   SHELLEY. 

ing  from  the  odors  and  sounds  of  autumn  some  diviner  mood  of  sweetest  sadness,  which 
improves  the  softened  heart.  Whosoever  is  no  deceiver  and  destroyer  of  his  fellow-men — 
no  liar,  no  flatterer,  no  murderer^ — may  walk  among  his  species,  deriving,  from 
the  communion  with  all  which  they  contain  of  beautiful  or  majestic,  some  intercourse 
with  the  Universal  God.  Whosoever  has  maintained  with  his  own  heart  the  strictest 
correspondence  of  confidence,  who  dares  to  examine  and  to  estimate  every  imagination 
which  suggests  itself  to  his  mind — whosoever  is  that  which  he  designs  to  become,  and  only 
aspires  to  that  which  the  divinity  of  his  own  nature  shall  consider  and  approve — he  has 
already  seen  God." 

Can  any  one  cavil  with  these  beantiful  expressions,  this  out- 
pouring of  genius  \  If  such  there  be,  his  heart  and  understand- 
ing must  be  sadly  warped,  any  appeal  would  be  in  vain,  for 
him  the  Veil  of  Isis  could  never  be  lifted.  After  a  careful 
study  of  Shelley's  works  I  can  find  nothing  to  warrant  the  ex- 
ecration formerly  levelled  at  his  head,  not  even  in  the  "Refuta- 
tion of  Deism,"  that  remarkable  argument  in  the  Socratic  style 
between  Eusebes  and  Theosophus  in  which,  as  in  all  his  prose 
works,  is  displayed  keen  discernment,  logical  acuteness,  and 
close  analytical  reasoning  not  surpassed  by  the  greatest  philo- 
sophers— most  certainly  his  notions  of  God  were  not  in  unison 
with  the  current  theological  ideas,  and  it  was  this  daring  rebel- 
lion against  the  popular  faith,  the  chief  support  of  custom 
which  caused  all  the  trouble.  If  ever  he  attempted  to  show 
the  non-existence  of  Deity,  his  negation  was  solely  directed 
against  the  gross  human  notions  of  a  creative  power,  and  ergo 
a  succession  of  finite  creative  powers  ad  infinitum,  or  a 
Personal  God  who  has  only  been  acknowledged  in  the  popular 
teachings  as  an  autocratic  tyrant,  and  as  Shelley  puts  it  in  his 
own  language : 

"  A  venerable  old  man,  seated  on  a  throne  of  clouds,  his  breast  the  theatre  of  various 
passions,  analogous  to  those  of  humanity,  his  will  changeable  and  uncertain  as  that  of  an 
earthly  king." 

Not  to  be  compared  with  the  far  different  eternal  and  infinite. 

"  Spirit  of  Nature  !  all  sufficing  power, 
Necessity  !  thou  mother  of  the  world  ! 
Unlike  the  God  of  human  error,  thou 
Requirest  no  prayers  or  praises,  the  caprice 
Of  man's  weak  will  belongs  no  more  to  thee 
Than  do  the  changeful  passions  of  his  breast 
To  thy  unvarying  harmony." 

And  by  this  doctrine  of  necessity  here  aj;>ostrophised  our 
philosopher  instructs  us  in  a  lengthy  statement  of  great  clear- 
ness : 


PEECY   BT8SHE   SHELLEY.  9 

"We  are  taught  that  there  is  neither  good  nor  evil  in  the  univers  •,  otherwi  ■  than  as 
the  events  to  which  we  apply  these  epithets  have  relation  toourown  pei  uli 

Still  less  than  with  the  hypothesis  of  a  personal  God,  will  the  doctrine  of  nei  e    ity 
with  the  belief  of  a  future  state  of  punishment.      God  made  man  su<  h  as  he  is,  and   then 
damned  him  for  being  so  ;  for  to  say  that  God  was  the  author  of  all  good,  and    man   the 
author  of  all  evil,  is  to  say  that  one  man  made  a  straight  line  and  a  crooked   one,  and   an- 
other man  made  the  incongruity." 

For  you  to  better  understand  the  exact  position  in  which 
Shelley  placed  Mm  self,  it  is  elsewhere  thus  admirably  expressed  : 

"  The  thoughts  which  the  word  '  God'  suggest  to  the  human  mind  an  ble  of 

as  many  variations  as  human  minds  themselves.  The  Stoic,  the  Platonist,  and  th 
curean,  the  Polytheist,  the  Dualist,  and  the  Trinitarian,  differ  entirely  in  their  conceptions 
of  its  meaning.  They  agree  only  in  considering  it  the  most  awful  and  must  venerable  of 
names,  as  a  common  term  to  express  all  of  mystery,  or  majesty,  or  power,  which  the  in- 
visible world  contains.  And  not  only  has  every  sect  distinct  conceptions  of  the  applica- 
tion of  this  name,  but  scarcely  two  individuals  of  the  same  sect,  which  exercise  in  any 
degree  the  freedom  of  their  judgment,  or  yield  themselves  with  any  candor  of  feeling  to 
the  influences  of  the  visible  world,  find  perfect  coincidence  of  opinion  to  exist  between 
them  ....  God  is  neither  the  Jupiter  who  sends  rain  upon  the  earth  ;  nor  the 
Venus  through  whom  all  living  things  are  produced  ;  nor  the  Vulcan  who  presides  over 
the  terrestrial  element  of  fire  ;  nor  the  Vesta  that  preserves  the  light  which  is  enshrined 
in  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars.  He  is  neither  the  Proteus  nor  the  Pan  of  the  material 
world.  But  the  word  '  God '  unites  all  the  attributes  which  these  denominations  contain 
and  is  the  (inter-point)  and  over-ruling  spirit  of  all  the  energy  and  wisdom  included  with- 
in the  circle  of  existing  things." 

Of  these  attributes  generally  supposed  to  appertain  to  Deity. 
he  writes : 

"  There  is  no  attribute  of  God  which  is  not  either  borrowed  from  the  passions  and 
powers  of  the  human  mind,  or  which  is  not  a  negation.  Omniscience,  omnipotence,  om- 
nipresence, infinity,  immutability,  incomprehensibility,  and  immateriality,  are  all  words 
which  designate  properties  and  powers  peculiar  to  organized  beings,  with  the  addition  of 
negations,  by  which  the  idea  of  limitation  is  excluded." 

There  is  no  other  writer,  I  think,  who  seems  to  grasp  so  clearly 
as  Shelley  the  everlasting  and  immutable  laws  of  Naturismus,  or 
who  believed  so  fully  in  the  divine  mission  of  man,  and  the  re- 
ligion of  humanity.  Ever  soaring  into  the  ideal,  philosophizing  1  >y 
the  aid  of  his  emotional  impulses,  Shelley  possessed,  like  all  true 
HermetistsandTheosophists  imbued  with  mysticism,  a  wonderful 
power  of  continued  abstraction  in  the  contemplation  of  the  Su- 
preme Power.  His  mentality,  described  by  one  of  his  critics  as 
essentially  Greek,  "simple,  not  complex,  imaginative  rather 
than  fanciful,  abstract  not  concrete,  intellectual  aot  emotional," 
contributed  its  share  to  his  belief  in  a  pantheistic  philosophy, 
making  him  find  Supreme  Intelligence  permeated  through  the 


10  PERCY   BYSSHE   SHELLEY. 

whole  of  infinite  and  interminable  Nature.  Regarding  the  uni- 
verse as  an  abstract  whole,  he  endorsed  the  fundamental  meta- 
physics of  Plato,  and  believed  that  "passing  phenomena  are 
types  of  eternal  archetypes,  embodiments  of  eternal  realities." 

Even  if  despite  of  my  assertions  to  the  contrary,  there  be  those 
who  still  insist  on  the  atheism  of  Shelley,  they  had  better  re- 
study  the  elementary  axioms  and  learn  to  think — to  those  who 
imagine  that  there  is  but  little  difference  between  atheism  and 
pantheism  to  the  discredit  of  either,  I  would  remind  them  that 
Bacon  in  his  "Moral  Essays,"  lays  down  as  a  principle  that : — 

"Atheism  leaves  to  man  reason,  philosophy,  nature,  piety, 
laws,  reputation  and  everything  that  can  serve  to  conduct  him  to 
virtue  ;  but  superstition  destroys  all  these,  and  erects  itself  into  a 
tyranny  over  the  understandings  of  men;  hence  atheism  never  dis- 
turbs the  government,  but  renders  man  more  clear-sighted,  since 
he  sees  nothing  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  present  life." 

In  making  use  of  this  quotation  do  not  let  it  be  presumed  that  I 
wish  to  endorse  Materialism  ;  my  desire  is  to  add  the  authority 
of  a  great  mind  like  that  of  the  Elizabethan  philosopher,  to  the 
fact  that  superstition  is  so  hateful  that  even  blank,  bald  atheism 
is  preferable  thereto.  I  should  state  that  Bacon  in  extension  of 
the  extract  I  have  quoted,  speaking  of  this  soul-destroying  in- 
cubus on  humanity  observes  that: — "A  little  philosophy  in- 
clineth  men's  minds  to  atheism  ;  but  depth  in  philosophy  bring- 
eth  men's  minds  to  religion." 

No  amount  of  mere  reasoning,  or  argument  a  'priori  or  a 
posteriori,  can  prove  the  existence  of  the  Most  High  or  destroy 
the  same ;  in  every  breast  is  implanted  an  innate  belief  in 
Deity,  the  inner  consciousness  of  the  race,  by  the  "Vox 
Dei"  speaking  within,  has  throughout  all  time,  the  patt  and 
the  present  revelled  in  this  sublimity,  and  will  continue  to  do  so 
in  the  future,  notwithstanding  the  insane  and  insensate  efforts 
of  pseudo  scientists  or  iconoclastic  materialists — the  brain  and 
the  heart  must  act  in  harmony  to  consolidate  a  pure  philosophy, 
for  mere  intellect  alone  is  an  untrustworthy  guide.  By  logic 
Whately  proved  apparently  indisputably  the  non-existence  of 
Napoleon  Bonaparte,  at  the  time  when  there  was  no  doubt  in 
any  reasonable  mind  that  he  was  actually  living  in  the  flesh,  by 
the  same  means  one  can  disprove  one's  own  being,  and  so  by  this 
unsafe  method  have  I  frequently  heard  the  God  idea  very  learn- 


PERCY    BYSSHE    BHELLEY.  11 

edly  overthrown.     On  such  occasions  I  have  simply  taken  the 

words  of  the  logicians  for  what  all  their  idle  wind  is  worth — 
ZERO. 

Tiie  Immortality  of  the  Soul  lias  ever  been  a  subject  of  primary 
importance  to  all  philosophers — the  last  dying  efforts  of  Socra- 
tes, noblest  of  Greece's  sons,  as  Plato  has  shown  us  in  the 
Phsedo,  were  expended  in  a  discussion  on  the  pros  and  cons  of 
an  argument  in  favor  of  a  future  life.  Many  of  the  highest  in- 
telligences since  his  day  have  been  endeavoring  to  prove  this 
satisfactorily  without  the  aid  of  theological  revelation.  All 
mankind,  from  sage  to  peasant,  from  the  most  learned  Brahmin 
on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  to  the  untutored  red  Indian  beside 
the  Mississippi,  has  the  question,  "is  there  an  existence  after 
death,"  been  approached  with  the  most  earnest  hopes  to  solve  as 
one  of  the  greatest  mysteries.  Shelley  devoted  a  vast  amount 
of  energy  to  the  elucidation  of  this  occult,  yet  overt,  truth  ;  and 
in  one  place  remarks : 

"  The  desire  to  be  forever  as  we  are  ;  the  reluctance  to  a  violent  and  unexperienced 
change,  which  is  common  to  all ;  the  animate  and  inanimate  combinations  of  the  universe, 
is,  indeed,  the  secret  persuasion  which  has  (among  other  reasons)  given  birth  to  a  belief 
in  a  future  state." 

Full  well  he  knew,  that  independent  of  matter,  there  was  a 
power,  which  has  been,  denominated  by  some,  Spirit ;  by  others, 
simply  mind,  force,  or  intelligence  ;  and  by  metaphysical  philoso- 
phers, soul.  If  he  approached  the  subject  logically,  as  in  his 
essay,  "On  a  Future  State,"  the  ignis  fatuus  seems  to  escape 
him  and  be  lost ;  if  poetically,  with  the  innate  voice  which 
speaks  within  us  all,  ever  present. 

After  close  reasoning  in  the  essay  I  have  referred  to,  he  ar- 
rived at  the  conclusion  that  even 

"if  it  be  proved  that  the  world  is  ruled  by  a  divine  power,  no  inference  can  necessarily 
be  drawn  from  that  circumstance  in  favor  of  a  future  state," 

and  that 

"if  a  future  state  be  clearly  proved,  does  it  follow  that  it  will  be  a  state  of  punishment  or 
reward  ?" 

Then  in  extension  of  the  same  argument  he  nrg 

"  Sleep  suspends  many  of  the  faculties  of  the  vital  and  intellectual  principle— drunk- 
enness and  disease  will  either  temporarily  or  permanently  derange  them.  Madness,  or 
idiotcy,  may  utterly  extinguish  the  most  excellent  and  delicate  of  these  powers.  In  old 
age  the  mind  gradually  withers  ;  and  as  it  grew  and  strengthened  with  the  body,  so  does 
it  with  the  body  sink  into  decrepitude." 


12  PERCY   BTSSIIE   SHELLEY. 

He  also  considered  that : 

"  It  is  probable  that  what  we  call  thought  is  not  an  actual  being,  but  no  more  than  the 
relation  between  certain  parts  of  that  infinitely  varied  mass,  of  which  the  rest  of  the  uni- 
verse is  composed,  and  which  ceases  to  exist  so  soon  as  those  parts  change  their  position 
with  regard  to  each  other.  Thus  color,  and  sound,  and  taste,  and  odor,  exist  only  rela- 
tively." 

Even  granted  that  mind  or  thought  be  a  part  of,  or  in  fact, 
the  soul,  then  he  asks  in  what  manner  it  could  be  made  a  proof 
of  its  imperishability,  as  all  that  we  see  or  know  perishes  and  is 
changed. 

Here  then  comes  the  query,  "Have  we  existed  before  birth ?" 
A  difficult  possibility  to  conceive  of  individual  intelligence  and 
if  unprovable  against  the  theory  of  existence  after  death. 

He  then  winds  up  the  whole  by  thinking  that  it  is  impossible 
that, 

"  we  should  continue  to  ex.ist  after  death  in  some  mode  totally  inconceivable  to  us  at 
present." 

and  that  only  those  who  desire  to  be  persuaded  are  per- 
suaded. 

This  is  but  a  rough  outline  of  some  of  the  principal  features 
of  his  considerations  on  soul  immortality  from  a  logical  basis, 
and  which,  after  all,  only  constitute  an  argument,  to  which,  and 
the  thoughts  presented  therein,  he  did  not  necessarily  bind  him- 
self. There  can  be  little  doubt,  independently  of  what  I  have 
quoted,  that  he  did  not  believe  in  a  future  state  as  popularly  ac- 
cepted. Trelawney  asked  him  on  one  occasion  :  "  Do  you  believe 
in  the  immortality  of  the  spirit?"  "Shelley's  answer  was  un- 
mistakable, "  Certainly  not ;  how  can  I  \  We  know  nothing  ; 
we  have  no  evidence."  * 

When  we  take  Shelley  from  a  poetical  standpoint,  or  with 
the  divine  truism  implanted  by  the  Ain-soph  clamoring  within  to 
his  intelligence  for  expression,  how  confident  he  appears  of  a 
hereafter,  as  in  the  "Adonais,"  or  in  the  following  extract 
from  an  unpublished  letter  to  his  father-in-law,  William  God- 
win, the  property  of  my  friend  C.  W.  Frederickson,  of  New 
York,  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  admirers  of  Shelley,  and 

*  Those  who  desire  to  fully  investigate  Shelley's  ideas  on  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  and  the  existence,  or  nature,  of  Deity,  will  be  amply  repaid  by  reading  W.  M.  Ros- 
setti's  admirable  memoir  of  the  poet,  appended  to  the  last  two-volume  London  edition 
of  his  works. 


PERCY   BYSSHE   SHELLEY.  13 

who  has  been  often  known  to  pay  more  than  the  weight  in 
for  Shelleyana : 

"  Willi  how  many  garlands  we  can  beautify  the  tomb.  If  we  begin  betimes,  we  can 
learn  to  make  the  prospect  of  the  grave  the  most  seductive  of  human  visions.  I 
and  little  we  hive  therein  all  the  most  pleasing  of  our  dreams.  Surely,  if  any  spot  in  the 
world  be  sacred,  it  is  that  in  which  grief  ceases,  and  for  which,  if  the  voice  within  our 
hearts  mocks  us  not  with  an  everlasting  lie,  we  spring  upon  the  untiring  wings  of  a  pang- 
less  and  seraphic  life — those  whom  we  love  around  us — our  nature,  universal  intelligence, 
our  atmosphere,  eternal  love." 

How  exquisite  these  remarks  and  his  description  of  a  disem- 
bodied spirit : 

"  it  stood 
All  beautiful  in  naked  purity, 
The  perfect  semblance  of  its  bodily  frame, 
Instinct  with  inexpressible  beauty  and  grace, 

Each  stain  of  earthliness 
Had  passed  away,  it  re-assumed 
Its  native  dignity,  and  stood 

Immortal  amid  ruin." 

It  must  appear  impossible  to  any  rational  mind,  that,  with 
fnll  evidence  before  their  eyes,  materialists  can  attempt  to  claim 
Shelley  as  endorsing  their  doctrines,  for  even  in  the  "Qu 
Mab,"  which  has  been  considered  by  those  not  understanding 
it  as  a  most  atheistical  poem,  he  speaks  of — 

"  the  remembrance 
With  which  the  happy  spirit  contemplates 
Its  well-spent  pilgrimage  on  earth." 

Positive  dogmatists  are  tyrannically  endeavoring  to  crash  the 
belief  in  a  soul,  that   All  which  makes  the  present  life  happy 
on  earth,  the  hope  of  our  heritage  in  a  future  state.     To  1 1 
the  fact  that  the  race  from  the  dawn  of  history,  and  thr< 
the  ages  has  knelt  down  in  abnegation  before  this  inscnil 
truth  is  nothing.     This  glorious  belief  evolved  from  the  primae- 
val Cabala,  taught  in  ancient  Egypt,  found  contemporaneously 
in  India,  enunciated  by  scholarly  Rabbis,  ever  present   beJ 
the  Chahtem  and  Assyrian  Magi,  and  laid  down  as  axiom 
the  philosophical  schools  of  Greece  and  Rome,  not  only  to  be 
discovered  a  fundamental  in  the  Egyptian,  the  Hebraistic,  the 
Brahminical,    the   Buddhistic,   the  Vedic,  but  also   in  all  the 
sacred  books  of  everynation,  and  handed  down  and  perpetuated 
to  these  days  as  a  sacred  legacy  from  the  past,  by  both  Mohammed 
and  Christ.     This,  the  great  co-mystery  of  all  the  ancient  niys- 


14  PERCY  BTSSHE  SHELLEY. 

teries,  shall  remain  ever  present  through  all  futurity  like  "the 
existing  order  of  the  Universe,  or  rather,  of  \hspart  of  it  known 
to  us,"  to  use  the  phraseology  of  John  Stuart  Mill.  Nations 
may  rise  and  fall,  theologies  may  nourish  and  decay,  but  this 
glorious  and  divine  inheritance  shall  never  pass  away.  Let 
pseudo-scientists  avail  themselves  of  stale  and  exploded  argu- 
ments, and  urge  that  there  is  no  invisible  world,  and  therefore  no 
immortality  for  man,  but  honest  scientists,  like  Professors  Tait  and 
Stewart,  in  the  "  Unseen  Universe,"  will  agree  with  the  Illumi- 
nati :  "  in  the  position  assumed  by  S  wedenborg,  and  by  the  Spirit- 
ualists, according  to  which  they  look  upon  the  invisible  world 
not  as  something  absolutely  distinct  from  the  visible  universe, 
and  absolutely  unconnected  with  it,  as  is  frequently  thought 
to  be  the  case,  but  rather  as  a  universe  that  has  some  bond  of 
union  with  the  present ;' '  and  like  Tyndall,  will  be  obliged  in 
abject  humility  to  acknowledge,  unlike  the  initiated  occultist,  that : 
' '  When  we  endeavor  to  pass  from  the  phenomena  of  physics 
to  those  of  thought,  we  meet  a  problem  which  transcends  any 
conceivable  expansion  of  the  powers  we  now  possess.  We 
may  think  over  the  subject  again  and  again — it  eludes  all  intel- 
lectual presentation — we  stand  at  length  face  to  face  with  the 
incomprehensible. ' ' 

Shelley  was  ever  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  either  from 
ignorance  or  the  casuistical  sophistries  of  mal-interested  teachers 
who  have  distorted  the  divine  pristine  truths  for  their  own  base 
ends,  emanated  superstition,  the  taint  of  all  it  looked  upon;  and 
with  no  unsparing  hand  he  flagellated  the  professors  of  the  nu- 
merous false  faiths,  bastardized  from  their  original  purity,  which 
have  in  their  decay,  darkened  the  earth,  and  with  all  the  force  of 
his  powerful  pen,  mightier  than  any  sword,  he  ridiculed  these 
gross  theologies  existant  among  men,  as  in  the  following : 

"  Barbarous  and  uncivilized  nations  have  uniformly  adored,  under  various  names,  a 
God  of  which  themselves  were  the  model  :  revengeful,  blood-thirsty,  groveling  and  ca- 
pricious. The  idol  of  a  savage  is  a  demon  that  delights  in  carnage.  The  steam  of  slaugh- 
ter, the  dissonance  of  groans,  the  flames  of  a  desolated  land,  are  the  offerings  which  he 
deems  acceptable,  and  his  innumerable  votaries  throughout  the  world  have  made  it  a 
point  of  duty  to  worship  him  to  his  taste.  The  Phoenicians,  the  Druids  and  the  Mexi- 
cans have  immolated  hundreds  at  the  shrines  of  their  divinity,  and  the  high  and  holy  name 
of  God  has  been  in  all  ages  the  watchword  of  the  most  unsparing  massacres,  the  sanction 
of  the  most  atrocious  perfidies.' 

Of  the  treatment  Judaism,  the  foster  mother  of  Christianity, 


PEROT    BTSSHE  SHELLET.  15 

received  at  the  poet's  hands,  I  will  nowrecite  two  exam] 
To  Moses,  the  Jehovah  of  the  Hebrews  is  thus  made  bo  Bpeak  : 

"  From  an  eternity  of  idleness 
I,  God,  awoke  ;  in  seven  days'  toil  made  earth 
From  nothing  ;  rested,  and  created  man  ; 
I  placed  him  in  a  paradise,  and  there 
Planted  the  tree  of  evil,  so  that  he 
Might  eat  and  perish,  and  my  soul  procure 
Wherewith  to  sate  its  malice,  and  to  turn 
Even  like  a.  heartless  conqueror  of  the  earth, 
All  misery  to  my  fame.     The  race  of  men 
Chosen  to  my  honor,  with  impunity 
May  sate  the  lusts  /planted  in  their  hearts. 
Here  I  command  thee  hence  to  lead  them  on, 
Until,  with  harden'd  feet,  their  conquering  troops 
Wade  on  the  promised  soil  through  woman's  blood. 
And  make  my  name  be  dreaded  through  the  land, 
Yet  ever-burning  flame  and  ceaseless  woe 
Shall  be  the  doom  of  their  eternal  souls, 
With  every  soul  on  this  ungrateful  earth, 
Virtuous  or  vicious,  weak  or  strong — even  all 
Shall  perish  to  fulfill  the  blind  revenge 
(Which  you  to  men  call  justice)  of  their  God." 

In  another  place  Shelley  is  equally  descriptive  of  the  early 
stages  of  Jewish  history,  and  makes  the  following  observations 
on  the  building  of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  which  rearing  high 
its  thousand  golden  domes  to  heaven,  exposed  its  glory  to  the 
face  of  day : 

"  Oh  !  many  a  widow,  many  an  orphan  cursed 
The  building  of  that  fane  ;  and  many  a  father, 
Worn  out  with  toil  and  slavery,  implored 
The  poor  man's  God  to  sweep  it  from  the  earth, 
And  spare  his  children  the  detested  task 
Of  piling  stone  on  stone,  and  poisoning 

The  choicest  days  of  life, 

To  soothe  a  dotard's  vanity. 
There  an  inhuman  and  uncultured  race 
Howl'd  hideous  praises  to  their  demon — God  ; 
They  rushed  to  war,  tore  from  the  mother's  womb 
The  unborn  child — old  age  and  infancy 
Promiscuous  perished  ;  their  victorious  arms 
Left  not  a  soul  to  breathe.     Oh  !  they  were  fiends. 
And  what  was  he  who  taught  them  that  the  God 
Of  nature  and  benevolence  had  given 
A  special  sanction  to  the  trade  of  blood  ? 
His  name  and  theirs  are  fading,  and  the  tales 
Of  this  barbarian  nation,  which  imposture 
Recites  till  terror  credits,  are  pursuing 

Itself  into  forgetfulness." 


16  PEECY  BYSSHE  SHELLEY. 

With  the  enlightenment  of  the  present  century  in  every  depart- 
ment of  knowledge,  so  has  a  corresponding  degree  of  advance- 
ment been  thrown  on  the  science  of  history,  which  Shelley  only 
partially  apprehended.  An  enormous  amount  of  new  informa- 
tion is  now  to  be  gleaned  from  the  writings  of  Ewald,  Fergusson, 
Biinsen,  Deutsch,  Max  Miiller,  Baring-Gould,  Stanley,  and 
other  scholars  of  Orientation,  which  shows  that  the  Hebrews, 
like  every  other  nation,  passed  through  the  various  phases  of 
Nomadism  and  Pastoralism,  to  that  of  offensive  and  defensive 
war.  The  same  as  other  races,  they  came  through  the  usual 
steps  in  religious  progress— Fetishism,  Astrolatry,  Polytheism 
and  Monotheism.  During  phases  in  their  history  they  partici- 
pated in  the  various  forms  of  tree  and  serpent,  Phallic,  or  fire- 
worship.  They  had,  as  the  Talmud,  Targums,  and  the  Old  Testa- 
ment show,  a  knowledge  of  the  Egyptian  or  Chaldaic  account  of 
the  creation  and  fall,  the  latter  still  to  be  seen  on  the  walls  of  the 
temple  of  Osiris  at  Philse.  They  had  much  knowledge  of  the 
Cabala,  through  their  great  prophet  Moses,  who  was  "learned 
in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,"  and,  like  Pythagoras,  had 
been  initiated  into  their  mysteries,  and  who  both  imparted''  the 
knowledge  in  part  to  their  compatriots,  on  which  they  both 
founded  systems. 

A  great  traveler,  and  most  learned  modern  writer  on  Occult- 
ism, who  claims,  on  good  grounds,  to  have  been  received  into 
the  ancient  branch  of  the  Kosie  Cross  in  the  far  East,  Madame 
Helena  P.  de  Blavatsky,  imparts  the  following  particulars: 
' '  The  first  Cabala  in  which  a  mortal  man  ever  dared  to  explain  the 
greatest  mysteries  of  the  universe,  and  show  the  keys  to  those 
masked  doors  in  the  ramparts  of  Nature,  through  which  no 
mortal  can  ever  pass  without  rousing  dread  sentries  never  seen 
upon  this  side  her  wall,  was  compiled  by  a  certain  Simeon  Ben 
Jochai,  who  lived  at  the  time  of  the  second  temple' s  destruction. 
Only  about  thirty  years  after  the  death  of  this  renowned  Caba- 
list,  his  MSS.  and  written  explanations,  which  had  till  then  re- 
mained in  his  possession  as  a  most  precious  secret,  were  used  by 
his  son,  Rabbi  Elizzar,  and  other  learned  men.  Making  a  com- 
pilation of  the  whole,  they  so  produced  the  famous  work  called 
Zdhar  (God's  splendor).  This  book  proved  an  inexhaustible 
mine  for  all  the  subsequent  Cabalists,  their  source  of  informa- 
tion and  knowledge,  and  all  more  recent  and  genuine  Cabalas 


PERCY  BY8SHE  SHELLEY.  17 

were  all  more  or  less  carefully  copied  from  the  former.  Before 
that,  all  the  mysterious  doctrines  had  comedown  in  an  unbroken 
line  of  merely  oral  tradition  as  far  back  as  man  could  trace  him- 
self on  earth.  They  were  scrupulously  and  jealously  guarded 
by  the  wise  men  of  Chaldea,  India,  Persia  and  Egypt,  and 
passed  from  one  initiate  to  another,  in  the  same  purity  of  form 
as  whefi.  handed  down  to  the  first  man  by  the  angels,  students 
of  God's  great  Theosophic  seminary." 

Many  Free  Thinkers,  in  their  anxiety  to  crush  everything  be- 
longing to  Christianity,  often  forget  that,  in  throwing  aside  the 
Hebrew  records  as  utterly  worthless,  they  arc  getting  rid  of  one 
of  the  most  ancient  literatures  in  the  world.  They  also  do  not 
remember  the  history  of  a  peculiar  nation,  strangely  preserved 
amid  the  fluctuations  of  time,  the  purity  and  excellence  of  tine 
Book  of  Job,  the  Psalms,  and  others  which  I  could  name.  Tiny 
cast  unmerited  contempt  on  these  compilations,  when,  at  the 
same  time,  they  will  throw  themselves,  with  almost  Fetish 
reverence,  and  apparently  rapt  adoration,  before  the  Institutes  of 
Menu,  the  Bhagvat-Geeta,  the  morals  of  Chaoung-Fou-T 
the  Zend-Avesta,  the  Rig- Veda,  the  Oracles  of  Zoroaster,  the 
Book  of  the  Dead,  the  Puranas,  the  Shastras.  and  the  like. 

Well  may  the  Sons  of  Israel  be  proud  of  their  ancient  descent. 
They  suffered  through  Christian  persecutions  uncomplainingly — 
the  torture,  the  rack,  the  auto-da-fe— and  yet  they  bowed  their 
heads  in  submission  to  the  will  of  Adonai.  To-day  they  stand 
upright  and  united,  as  in  olden  times.  They  have  gained  the 
victory  over  the  false  disciples  of  the  Nazarene,who,  in  days  gone 
by,  forgot  their  erudition,  their  medical  knowledge,  their  com- 
mercial activity,  and  general  culture.  Pre-eminent  in  w< salth  and 
learning,  they  are  found  on  the  lecture-platform,  in  the  fields  of 
literature  and  science,  in  the  councils  of  rulers,  on  the  exchange, 
in  the  legislature — everywhere.  When  Greece  and  Rome  were 
in  their  infancy,  this  extraordinary  people  was  in  middle 
and  when  our  Saxon  forefathers  were  in  the  lowest  stag 
barbarism,  they  were  in  a  state  of  high  civilization  :  and  to-day, 
although  scattered,  the3r  show  a  compact  front,  firmly  knit  in 
the  bonds  of  brotherly  love,  a  model  for  Christians.  The  great 
reform  movement  now  agitating  Judaism,  as  well  as  every  other 
species  of  political  and  metaphysical  thought,  will  eventually 
aid  to  consolidate  all  the  races  into  one  raw — Humanity. 


18  PERCY    BYSSHE    SHELLEY. 

In  order  to  make  Christians  prejudge  Shelley  it  has  been  the 
wont  of  theologians,  as  usual  in  fighting  their  antagonists,  to 
cry  up  a  false  issue,  and  to  make  their  followers  believe  that  he 
was  rather  more  than  a  mere  hater  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the 
teachings  of  that  religious  and  social  reformer,  in  fact,  that  he 
was  an  infidel  of  infidels.  To  have  no  misconceptions — for  it  has 
been  stated  that  Shelley  changed  his  views  on  Christ,  which  after 
ten  years'  careful  study  of  his  writings,  I  utterly  deny,  it  should 
be  thoroughly  understood  that  he  regarded  this  pious  Israelite  in 
a  duismal  aspect — as  Christ  the  Man,  and  as  Christ  the  God.  I 
must  not,  while  here,  forget  that  many  advanced  metaphysicians 
agree  that  they  cannot  satisfactorily  prove  the  historical  exis- 
tence of  Christ,  and  that  they  have  to  winnow  through  a  vast 
amount  of  chaff  to  get  at  his  presumed  philosophy,  and  the  facts 
in  his  life,  which  like  that  of  Buddha  is  wrapped  up  in  tradi- 
tional fable. 

For  the  Man  Christ,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  carpenter' s  carnate 
son,  the  mystical  Essene  and  occultist,  Shelley  exceeded  in  love 
and  reverence  many  of  the  most  earnest  Christians,  and  in  no 
theological  writings  can  there  be  discovered  such  beautiful  sen- 
timents concerning  the  "  The  Regenerator  of  the  World,'.'  and 
the  ' '  Meek  Reformer, ' '  of  whom  he  speaks  as  contemplating  that 
mysterious  principle  called  God,  the  fundamental  of  all  good, 
and  the  source  of  all  happiness,  as  every  true  poet  and  philoso- 
pher must  have  done.  It  is  impossible  to  turn  to  any  page  of 
his  works,  where,  in  speaking  of  Christ,  he  fails  in  this — he  ex- 
patiates with  as  great  fervor  as  Renan,  Seeley,  or  Strauss,  on 
Christ's  exposing  with  earnest  eloquence,  like  all  true  members 
of  the  brotherhood  of  Illuminati,  to  which  he  belonged,  the  panic 
fears  and  hateful  superstitions  which  have  enslaved  mankind 
for  ages,  and  extols 

"  His  extraordinary  genius,  the  wide  and  rapid  effects  of  his  unexampled  doctrines, 
his  invincible  gentleness  and  benignity,  (and)  the  devoted  love  borne  to  him  by  his 
adherents." 

For  the  God  Christ,  as  depicted  by  the  Sacerdotal  order,  he 
had  the  greatest  contempt.  It  was  impossible  for  a  mind  con- 
stituted like  his  to  tamely  rest  contented  with  the  incredible 
story  forced  on  mankind's  intelligence,  that  the  Supreme 
Power  could  or  would  for  any  wise  purpose  be  transformed  in- 
to a  dove,  and  re-enact  the  mythical  part  of  Jupiter  with  a 


PERCY    BYSSIIE    SHELLEY.  19 

Christian  Leda,  the  Jew  carpenter' s  wife,  Mary,  under  the  difl 
guise  of  a  bird.  k  Such  a  story  and  the  theory  on  which  Li    i 
Shelley  summarised  as  follows  : 

"According  to  this  book,  God  created  Satan,  who,  instigated  by  the  impulses  of  his 
nature,  contended  with  the  Omnipotent  for  the  throne  of  Heaven.  After  a  contest  f>r 
the  empire,  in  which  God  was  victorious,  Satan  was  thrust  into  a  pit  of  burning  sulphur. 
On  man's  creation,  God  placed  within  his  reach  a  tree  whose  fruit  he  fori 
on  pain  of  death  ;  permitting  Satan,  at  the  same  time,  to  employ  all  his  artifice  to  per- 
suade this  innocent  and  wondering  creature  to  transgress  the  fatal  prohibition. 

"  The  first  man  yielded  to  this  temptation  ;  and  to  satisfy  Divine  Justice  the  whole 
of  his  posterity  must  have  been  eternally  burned  in  hell,  if  God  had  not  sent  his  on! 
on  earth,  to  save  those  few  whose  salvation  had  been  foreseen  and  determined  before  the 
creation  of  the  world." 

The  hero  of  this  fabulous  episode,  beneath  which  a  great  truth 
lies  hidden,  the  Christian  Ahrimanes  or  Typjion,  the  Devil,  as 
painted  by  Milton,  he  considered  a  moral  being,  far  superior  to 
the  Gfod  depicted  by  the  same  author,  and  who,  under  the  form 
of  the  second  person  of  the  Christian  Trinity,  Shelley  tells  us  of 
coming  humbly, 

"  Veiling  his  horrible  God-head  in  the  shape 

Of  man,  scorn'd  by  the  world,  his  name  unheard, 

Save  by  the  rabble  of  his  native  town, 

Even  as  a  parish  demagogue.     He  led 

The  crowd  ;  he  taught  them  justice,  truth,  and  peace, 

In  semblance  ;  but  be  lit  within  their  souls 

The  quenchless  flame  of  zeal,  and  blest  the  sword 

He  brought  on  earth  to  satiate  with  the  blood 

Of  truth  and  freedom  his  malignant  soul." 

Elsewhere,  in  extension  of  the  same,  he  puts  the  accompanying 
words  in  the  mouth  of  Cod  the  Father,  to  illustrate  the  doctrine 
of  Christian  Atonement : 

"  I  will  beget  a  son,  and  he  shall  bear 

The  sins  of  all  the  world  ;  he  shall  arise 

In  an  unnoticed  corner  of  the  earth, 

And  he  shall  die  upon  a  cross,  and  purge 

The  universal  crime  ;  so  that  the  few 

On  whom  my  grace  descends,  those  who  are  marked 

As  vessels  to  the  honor  of  their  God, 

May  credit  this  strange  sacrifice,  and  save 

Their  souls  alive.     Millions  shall  live  and  die, 

Who  ne'er  shall  call  upon  their  Saviour's  name, 

But  unredeem'd  go  to  the  gaping  grave  ; 

Thousands  shall  deem  it  an  old  woman's  tale, 

Such  as  the  nurses  frighten  babes  withal ; 

These,  in  a  gulf  of  anguish  an  1  of  flame, 


20  PERCY  BYSSHE  SHELLEY. 

Shall  curse  their  reprobation  endlessly, 

Yet  tenfold  pangs  shall  force  them  to  avow, 

Even  on  their  beds  of  torment,  where  they  howl, 

My  honor  and  the  justice  of  their  doom. 

What  then  avail  their  virtuous  deeds,  their  thoughts 

Of  purity,  with  radiant  genius  bright, 

Or  lit  with  human  reason's  earthly  ray  ? 

Many  are  call'd  but  few  will  I  elect." 

The  popular  faith  of  Europe  and  America,  which  experience 
demonstrates  to  this  age  has,  even  as  a  means  of  reforming  hu- 
manity, been  a  complete  failure,  Shelley  correctly  believed,  had 
the  same  human  foundation  and  origin  as  that  of  other  revealed 
theologies — he  sums  up  the  proofs  on  which  Christianity  rests, 
miracles,  prophecies,  and  martyrdoms,  with  great  clearness ; 
proves  the  absurdity  of  the  doctrine  of  miracles,  as  taught  by 
Christian  writers,  shows  the  falseness  of  the  so-called  prophecies, 
even  granting  the  utmost  warping  of  the  real  meaning 
of  the  Old  Testament  texts  for  Christian  purposes,  which 
he  asserted  were  to  be  compared  unfavorably  with  the  oracles  of 
Delphos,  and  points .  out  that  the  Mohammedan  dying  for  his 
prophet,  or  the  Hindoo  immolating  himself  under  the  wheels 
of  Juggernaut  could  be  cited  equally  as  a  proof  of  the  divine  origin 
of  their  faiths,  as  the  reputed  martyrdoms  of  Christians  could 
of  theirs. 

The  development  of  Christianity,  which  was  really  founded  by 
Paul,  was  a  subject  to  which  Shelley  devoted  much  attention — 
he  tells  us  that 

"  The  same  means  that  have  supported  every  other  belief,  have  supported  Christianity. 
War,  imprisonment,  assassination,  and  falsehood  ;  deeds  of  unexampled  and  incomparable 
atrocity,  have  made  it  what  it  is.  The  blood  shed  by  the  votaries  of  the  God  of  mercy 
and  peace,  since  the  establishment  of  his  religion,  would  probably  suffice  to  drown  all  other 
sectaries  now  on  the  habitable  globe.  We  derive  from  our  ancestors  a  faith  thus  fostered 
and  supported  ;  we  quarrel,  persecute,  and  hate,  for  its  maintenance.  Even  under  a 
government  which,  while  it  infringes  the  very  right  of  thought  and  speech,  boasts  of  per- 
mitting the  liberty  of  the  press,  a  man  is  pilloried  and  imprisoned  because  he  is  a  deist, 
and  no  one  raises  his  voice  in  the  indignation  of  outraged  humanity." 

The  numerical  majority  of  Christians — the  Greek  and  Roman 
Catholic — are  as  much  pagans  as  their  ancestors,  the  ancient 
Greeks  and  Romans  were  exoterically.  And  why?  Simply 
because  on  the  break-up  of  the  Roman  empire — like  Moham- 
medanism afterwards,  which  was  the  natural  reformation  and 
revolution  from  Christian    image-worship — Christianity,   in  a 


PERCY    BYSSHE    SHELLEY.  21 

natural  succession,  and  by  fortuitous  circumstances,  toofc  | 
session  of  the  executive,  and  placed  on  the  seal  of  power  a 
Christian  Byzantine  emperor  in  lien  of  a  pagan.  Basil] 
dedicated  to  Jupiter,  Mercury,  Adonis,  Venus  and  the  deities 
of  High  Olympus,  were  re-dedicated  to  God  the  Father,  Grod  tin- 
Son,  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  the  other  saints 
(or  gods)  of  the  Christian  Pantheon.  Statues  therein  were  re- 
christened,  and  the  sacrificial  altars  were  simply  transferred  for 
the  use  of  the  eucharistical  sacrifice.  The  vestal  virgins  became 
nuns  of  the  church;  the  Sacer dotes,  her  priests  ;  the  mysl 
of  Isis,  her  Agapse.  Her  incense,  her  pictures,  her  image-wor- 
ship, her  holy  water,  her  processions,  and  her  prodigies,  too,  all 
came  from  the  same  source.  Thus  were  the  socialistic  and  com- 
munistic teachings,  based  on  the  Philoic-Essenism  of  the  Re- 
former of  Nazareth,  paganized,  prostituted,  and  entirely  mis- 
represented. His  life  and  labors  were  transformed  from  the  natu- 
ral into  what  was  considered  by  the  vulgar  the  supernatural,  and 
all  those  who  dared — like  Hypatia,  with  thousands  of  other 
pious  and  noble  ancients — to  deny  his  divinity, were  sacrificed  to 
this  new  Moloch,  set  up  by  parricide  Constantines,  or  adulterers 
of  the  Theodosius  caste.  Thus  through  the  ages,  has  the  race 
suffered  under  such  murder,  rapine,  and  lust,  as  never  disgraced 
tolerant  ancient  heathendom  in  the  interests  of  paganism,  evenas 
recently  happened  in  Central  America,*  and  would  happen  every- 

*  I  refer  to  the  abominable  outrages  perpetrated  a  few  months  ago  at 
Miguel,  Panama,  where  popular  preachers  were  forced  by  the  ecclesiastical  powers  to 
foment  rebellion  by  violently  denouncing  the  State  authorities,  who  had  refused  to 
allow  a  pastoral  of  the  Christian  Bishop  of  San  Salvador,  hostile  to  the  laws,  to  be  read  in 
the  churches.  Having  been  put  into  a  state  of  frenzy  by  one  Palacios,  a  canon  of  the 
cathedral,  a  fanatic  mob  revolted,  liberated  prisoners,  murdered  generals  in  command, 
massacred  numbers  of  the  best  citizens,  set  fire  to  the  city  with  kerosene,  and  de- 
over  one  million  dollars'  worth  of  property.  After  this  theological  revolt  had  been  put  down, 
passports,  couched  in  the  following  terms,  and  sealed  with  the  seal  of  the  bishopric,  were 
found  on  the  bodies  of  some  of  these  holy  murderers : 

"  Peter. — Open  to  the  bearer  the  gates  of  heaven,  who  has  died  for  religion. 

(Signed),     George,  P>ishop  of  San  Salvador." 

Similar  attempts  were  made  by  the  Christian  hierarchy  in  Brazil  against  the  Masonic 
body  ;  but,  fortunately,  the  emperor,  a  liberal  and  an  enlightened  savant,  crushed  the 
attempt  under  foot,  and  unmistakably  proved,  to  the  satisfaction  of  humanity,  that  he 
was  not  to  be  transformed  into  a  nineteenth  century  Charles  the  Ninth  or  Philip  the  Second, 
and  act  the  cat's  paw  for  Pio  Xono,  ex-carbonari  and  recusant  mason,  to  wreak  his  ven- 
geance on  the  brethren  whom  he  had  betrayed. 


22  PEECY    BYSSHE    SHELLEY. 

where  else,  if  priestcraft  had  the  power  to  act  without  restraint, 
so  that,  as  Shelley  says, 

"  Earth  groans  beneath  religion's  iron  age, 
And  priests  dare  babble  of  a  God  of  Peace — 
Even  whilst  their  hands  are  red  with  guiltless  blood, 
Murdering  the  while,  uprooting  every  germ 
Of  truth,  exterminating,  spoiling  all, 
Making  the  earth  a  slaughter-house." 

To  those  who  will  look  down  the  ages,  I  would  ask,  is  this 
picture  overdrawn  \  and  further,  to  remember  that  in  Shelley' s 
own  words  : 

"  Eleven  millions  of  men,  women  and  children  have  been  killed  in  battle,  butchered 
in  their  sleep,  burned  to  death  at  public  festivals  of  sacrifice,  poisoned,  tortured,  assassi- 
nated and  pillaged  in  the  spirit  of  the  religion  of  peace,  and  for  the  glory  of  the  most 
merciful  God." 

Is  it  amazing  that  he  should  have  written  such  a  "highly 
wrought  and  admirably  sustained"  tragedy  as  the  "Cenci," 
founded  oh  facts,  and  which  has  been  deemed  by  competent 
critics  the  first  since  Shakspeare — that  he  should  have  brought 
forward,  with  vivid  delineation,  the  crimes  of  the  priest- 
hood— and  that  he  should  have  made  us  remember  the  terrors  of 
the  bloody  wars  on  heretics  and  heathen,  in  words  such  as  these : 

"  Yes  !    I  have  seen  God's  worshippers  unsheathe 
The  sword  of  His  revenge,  when  grace  descended, 
Confirming  all  unnatural  impulses, 
To  sanctify  their  desolating  deeds  ; 
And  frantic  priests  wave  the  ill-omen'd  cross 
O'er  the  unhappy  earth  ;  then  shone  the  sun 
On  showers  of  gore  from  the  upflashing  steel 
Of  safe  assassination,  and  all  crime 
Made  stingless  by  the  spirits  of  the  Lord. 
And  blood-red  rainbows  canopied  the  land. 
Spirit !  no  year  of  my  eventful  being 
Has  pass'd  unstain'd  by  crime  and  misery, 
Which  flows  from  God's  own  faith.     I've  marked  his  slaves 
With  tongues  whose  lies  are  venomous,  beguile 
The  insensate  mob,  and  whilst  one  hand  was  red 
With  murder,  feign  to  stretch  the  other  out 
For  brotherhood  and  peace  ;  and  that  they  now 
Babble  of  love  and  mercy,  whilst  their  deeds 
Are  marked  with  all  the  narrowness  and  crime 
That  freedom's  young  arm  dare  not  yet  chastise  ?" 

Protestant  Christians  may  urge  that  all  this  is  not  Christi- 
anity ;  if  it  be  not — for  it  is  the  record  of  the  Church — I  would 
ask,  what  is  ?  and  where  shall  we  find  the  history  of  Christiani- 


PERCY    BYSSHE    SHELLEY.  2'.i 

ty  for  the  fifteen  centuries  before  Luther' a  dime  3  and  wh 
day  %  Their  predecessors  plucked  the  plumage  from  the  <l  j 
bird  of  mythology,  as  they,  themselves,  have  robbed  the  liberal 
orchard  of  all  its  choicest  fruits  and  palmed  them  off  as  of  their 
own  growth.  Protestants  would  not,  I  dare  say,  now  counte- 
nance the  persecutions  of  the  past,  but  yet,  I  would  tell  them 
that  their  Protestantism  has  been  a  great  mistake;  and  that, 
at  this  moment,  there  is  no  unity  among  the  opposers  of  Cath- 
olicism, who  are  split  into  a  thousand  sects,  wrangling  for 
superiority,  like  wolves  over  offal;  and  that  their  churches 
are  gradually  converging  toward  Rationalism  on  the  one 
hand,  and  Catholic  Sacerdotalism  on  the  other  ;  in  regard  to 
which  last,  the  Historical  Roman  Church — the  only  Christian 
body  which  presents  a  solid  phalanx — one  must  not  be  too  icono- 
clastic, remembering  that,  in  the  monastic  houses  and  great 
ecclesiastical  libraries  we  have  had  conserved  for  us,  although, 
perchance  by  accident,  the  records  of  all  the  philosophy,  all 
the  jurisprudence,  all  the  polity,  all  the  literature,  and  all  the 
civilization  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome,  that  remained  from 
the  Alexandrian  library  and  pre-Christian  times — the  mecjiSBval 
clerics  were  the  great  conservators  of  knowledge,  which  we  in- 
herit directly  from  Europe;  and  we  should  be,  there 
grateful  to  them  equally  with  Mohammedanism,  from 
which  we  received,  through  the  Crusaders  and  the  Moors,  the 
basis  of  nearly  all  science  and  luxury,  from  Asia,  The: 
undoubtedly,  many  bad  popes,  men  as  bad  as  the  incestuous, 
and,  according  to  the  recent  dogma,  the  infallible  Alexander 
Borgia  ;  priests  who  are  not  all  vile,  but  many  nobler  than  their 
system,  acknowledge  this  with  regret,  and  among  whom  there 
are  some  whom  I  can  reverence,  such  as  John  Henry  N  i  >wman,  I\  >r 
instance,  whose  life  would  favorably  compare  with  that  of 
Shelley,  or  any  liberal.  There  have  been  popes,  also,  v. 
lives  have  been  as  pure,  as  disinterested,  and  as  virtuous  as  that 
of  any  stoic  or  epicurean.  We  owe  much  to  Sixtus  the  Fifth, 
founder  of  the  Vatican  Library,  and  would-be  regenerator  of 
order  in  his  temporal  dominions  ;  to  Leo  the  Great,  whose  pat- 
ronage of  the  arts  has  sent  us  down  the  wondrous  statuary,  paint- 
ing, and  works  of  genius,  which  are  the  admiration  of  the  world  ; 
and  to  Hildebrand.  who  brought  together,  in  one  harmonious 
whole,  the  struggling  elements  of  European  society.     It  is  well 


24  PERCY    BYSSHE    SHELLEY. 

to  note,  too,  in  order  that  I  may  not  be  misunderstood,  that 
Catholicism  is  better  than  savage  Fetishism,  and  Ration- 
alism in  degree  superior  to  either  ;  and,  further,  that  Liberalism 
should  only  war  with  evil  principles,  and  not  with  men  whom 
they  are  generally  the  exponents  of  ignorantly,  and  to  the  best 
of  their  knowledge.  Comtism  *  acknowledges  the  fact  that 
Christianity  was  not  simply  a  mere  advance  on,  but  where  we 
shall  only  find  the  civilization  of  Europe  as  it  was  during  medieval 
times,  and  recognizes  this  most  strongly,  by  placing  over  fifty 
of  these  great  geniuses  and  luminaries,  popes,  bishops,  and 
saints  of  the  Catholic  Church,  in  the  Comtist  Calendar,  under 
the  sixth  and  seventh  months  dedicated  to  St.  Paul  or  Catholic- 
ism, and  Charlemagne  or  Feudal  Civilization  respectively.  We 
should  thank  the  followers  of  Comte  for  thus  bringing  to  our 
notice  what  we  might  be  liable  to  occasionally  forget  in  our 
bigotry  and  frequent  over-anxiety. 

In  popularizing  terms  wrongly,  lies  much  mischief.  If  the 
misapplied  term  Christianity,  signify  the  current  notion,  zeal 
for  truth,  the  good  of  mankind,  and  active  virtue  or  Christism, 
the  reputed  precepts  of  Christ,  then  Shelley  taught  that  ethical 
system,  and  the  so-called  Christian  world  which  persecuted  him, 
the  opposite. 

~No  one  believed,  better  than  Shelley,  in  the  necessity  of  con- 
tinuity, and  that  all  theological  systems  are  a  portion  of  the  de- 
velopment of  Humanity. 

It  should  likewise  be  remembered,  that  even  in  the  grossest 
superstition,  as  in  the  highest  belief,  the  underlying  aspiration, 
veiled  perhaps,  under  some  beautiful  myth,  is  a  straining  after 
the  pure  and  the  good,  and,  as  Shelley  puts  it : 

"All  original  religions  are  allegorical,  or  susceptible  of  allegory,  and,  like  Janus, 
have  a  double  face  of  false  and  true." 

It  should  also  be  considered,  that  it  is  better  not  to  interfere 
with  the  faith  of  the  ignorant,  but  let  them  remain  in  an  exoteric 

*  Comtism,  or  Positivism  is  that  casuistical  system  of  modern  Atheism,  founded  by 
A.uguste  Comte,  the  Ignatius  Loyola  of  Materialism,  and  which  that  learned  pantarchical 
madman  strung  together  in  Esquirol's  lunatic  asylum.  It  is  an  insidious  philosophy,  full 
of  Jesuistry,  and  teaches  a  soi-disant  Religion  which  is  Ir-religion,  a  pseudo-God,  which 
has  no  conceivable  existence,  and  an  impossible  immortality  of  the  soul,  ignoring  a 
future  state.  The  present  crusade  of  Comtism  in  our  midst,  with  false  colors  flying  can 
be  justly  compared  to  that  of  St.  Francois  Xavier  in  Hindostan. 


PEIH'Y     BYS8HE    SHELLEY. 

condition,  until  they  are  properly  developed  by  sufficient  edu- 
cation and  consequent  intelligence.  It  is  just  as  much  the  duty 
of  advanced  thinkers  not  to  tamper  with  the  beliefs  of  men  who 

are  in  an  early  stage  of  progress,  as  it  is  not  to  put  a  flaming 
torch  in  the  possession  of  a  lunatic,  or  a  razor  in  the  hands  of 
a  child. 

Shelley,  in  his  philosophy,  accepted  all  this,  with  the  full 
consciousness  that  in  the  end  truth  would  prevail — he  yearned 
for  the  time  when  priest-led  slaves  would 

"  Cease  to  proclaim  that  man 
Inherits  vice  and  misery,  when  force 
And  falsehood  hang  even  o'er  the  cradled  babe, 
Stifling  with  rudest  grasp  all  natural  good," 

and  for  that  epoch  when  "  the  Mohammedan,  the  Jew,  the  Chris- 
tian, the  Deist,  and  the  Atheist  will  live  together  in  one  com- 
munity, equally  sharing  the  benefits  which  arise  from  its  asso- 
ciations, and  united  in  the  bonds  of  charity  and  brotherly 
love." 

With  Shelley  we  can  turn  with  delight  to  the  gospels  of  the 
future,  as  of  the  ancient  past ;  and  the  ramifications  of  the 
Trinity  of  a  truly  Rational  Religion,  Nature,  Science,  and  Art, 
where  we  have,  instead  of  idle  prayers,  addressed  to  gross 
material  idols,  or  the  impossible  entities  hitherto  depicted  in 
theological  systems,  a  feeling  of  real  satisfaction  in  learning  how 
to  live  rather  than  to  die,  and  in  practicing  virtue  and  benevo- 
lence for  their  own  sakes,  than  for  improbable  rewards  in  the  u it- 
satisfactory  hereafter,  enunciated  from  the  theological  platform. 

Like  a  true  religionist,  Shelley  tells  us  that  aspirations  to 
"Madre  Natura,"  like  the  following,  should  be  poured  out  in 
silent,  grateful  communion  with  Omnipresence,  and  not  in  tem- 
ples made  by  hands  : 

Spirit  of  Nature  !  here  ! 
In  this  interminable  wilderness 
Of  worlds,  at  whose  immensity 

Even  soaring  fancy  staggers, 

Here  is  thy  fitting  temple. 
Vet  not  the  slightest  leaf 
That  quivers  to  the  passing  breeze 

Is  less  instinct  with  thee  ; 

Vet  not  the  meanest  worm 
That  lurks  in  graves,  and  fattens  on  the  dead 

Less  shares  thy  eternal  breath. 


26  PERCY    BTSSHE    SHELLEY. 

Spirit  of  Nature  !    thou  ! 
Imperishable  as  this  scene, 
Here  is  thy  fitting  temple. 

From  such  a  soul-inspiring  altar  should  praises  like  these  be 
raised,  and  with  what  sacred  feeling  would  the  puie  worshipper 
revel  "where  spirits  live  and  dream — where  all  that  is  sweet  in 
sound,  or  pure  in  vision  floats  on  the  air,  or  passes  dimly  before 
the  sight,"  for  as  the  late  Professor  J.  G.  Hoyt,  in  his  essay  on 
Shelley  beautifully  points  out — "To  him  everything  was  God, 
and  God  was  everything.  Every  place  was  peopled  with  forms 
of  beauty  and  animated  with  living  intelligences.  Hills  and  val- 
leys, forests  and  fountains,  were  each  thronged  with  presiding 
deities — bright  effluences  from  the  Divinity  that  stirred  within, 
and  shone  above  the  whole." 

In  leaving  the  first  portion  of  my  paper,  I  will  make  the  fol- 
lowing quotation  from  a  remarkable  article  on  Shelley  in  the 
pages  of  the  National  Magazine,  which  all  minds  unshackled, 
and  free  from  prejudice,  must  acknowledge  to  be  correct  in  the 
main,  and  which  admirably  sums  up  his  efforts  in  metaphysical 
philosophy.  Our  attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  we  dis- 
cover in  all  Shelley's  writings  "a  freer  and  purer  development 
of  what  is  best  and  noblest  in  ourselves.  We  are  taught  in  it 
to  love  all  living  and  lifeless  things,  with  which  in  the  material 
and  moral  universe  we  are  surrounded — we  are  taught  to  love 
the  wisdom  and  goodness  and  majesty  of  the  Almighty,  for  we 
are  taught  to  love  the  universe,  his  symbol  and  visible  exponent. 
God  has  given  two  books  for  the  study  and  instruction  of  man- 
kind ;  the  book  of  revelation  and  the  book  of  nature.  In  one 
at  least  of  these  was  Shelley  deeply  versed,  and  in  this  one  he  has 
given  admirable  lessons  to  his  fellow-men.  Throughout  his 
writings,  every  thought  and  every  feeling  is  subdued  and 
chastened  by  a  spirit  of  unutterable  and  boundless  love.  The 
poet  meets  us  on  the  common  ground  of  a  disinterested 
humanity,  and  he  teaches  us  to  hold  an  earnest  faith  in  the 
worth  and  the  intrinsic  Godliness  of  the  soul.  He  tells  us — he 
makes  us  feel  that  there  is  nothing  higher  than  human  hope, 
nothing  deeper  than  the  human  heart ;  he  exhorts  us  to  labor 
devotedly  in  the  great  and  good  work  of  the  advancement  of 
human  virtue  and  happiness,  and  stimulates  us 

'  To  love  and  bear — to  hope  till  hope  creates 
From  its  own  wreck  the  thing  it  contemplates. '  " 


PERCY    BYSSHE    SHELLEY. 

It  is  observed  by  Shelley  that 

"The  exertions  of  Locke,  Hume,  Gibbon,  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  and  their  di 
favor  of  oppressed  and  deluded  humanity,  are  entitled  t<>  the  gratitude  of  mankind.  Vet 
it  is  easy  to  calculate  the  degree  of  moral  and  intellectual  improvement  which  the 
world  would  have  exhibited,  had  they  never  lived.  A  little  more  nonsense  would  have 
been  talked  for  a  century  or  two;  and  perhaps  a  few  more  men,  women  and  children 
burnt  as  heretics.  We  might  not  at  this  moment  have  been  congratulating  each  other  on 
the  abolition  of  the  Inquisition  in  Spain." 

The  vast  impetus,  which  these  extraordinary  geniuses  gave  to 
freedom  in  metaphysical  strongholds,  led  to  a  corresponding 
degree  of  liberty  in  the  political  and  social  relations. 

Shelley  was  not  one  who 

"  beheld  the  woe 
In  which  mankind  was  bound,  and  deem'd  that  fate 
Which  made  them  abject,  would  preserve  them  so." 

but  on  the  contrary  was  aware  of  the  progressive  character  of 
the  race,  and  threw  himself  with  all  his  heart  and  soul  into  the 
cause  of  Republicanism,  and  never  slackened  in  his  efforts  till 
death  took  him  from  his  work.  Hjs  nohlp^t  endeavors  wnv 
directed  toward  the,  caiisejaf-sugering-humaiiif  v.  crushed  under 
the  weight  of  despotism ;' ancl  his  tuneful  lyre  was  ever  struck 
in  hi'liaTfoT  the  Goddess  of  Freedom,  to  whom,  in  that  soul  inspi- 
ring "Ode  to  Liberty,"  he  offers  chaplets  of  the  most  glorious 
verse  to  rouse  the  nations  from  their  apathy./  He  has  given  us  his 
reflections  on  the  English  Revolution,  when  Cromwell  crushed 
royalty  under  his  feet  in  the  person  of  the  tyrant  Charles 
Stuart,  and  which,  notwithstanding,  rose  again  to  befoul,  in  the 
profligacy  and  debauchery  of  the  second  Carolian  epoch  :  on 
the  French  Revolution,  when  an  intelligent  people  drove  our  a 
brood  of  vampires,  who  had  drained  the  blood  of  France  too  long, 
to  be  replaced  by  atrocious  demagogues,  hateful  priest-ridden 
Bourbons  and  a  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  the  wholesale  Jaffa  pois- 
oner, on  whose  death  Shelley  wrote  lines  pregnant  with  repub- 
lican feelings  : 

"  I  hated  thee,  fallen  tyrant  !  I  did  groan 
To  think  that  a  most  ambitious  slave, 
Like  thou,shouldst  dance  and  revel  on  the  grave 
Of  Liberty.    Thou  mightst  have  built  thy  throne 
Where  it  had  stood  even  now  ;  thou  didst  prefer 
A  frail  and  bloody  pomp,  which  time  has  swept 
In  fragments  towards  oblivion.    Massacre, 
For  this  I  pray'd  would  on  thy  sleep  have  crept, 
Treason  and  Slavery,  Rapine,  Fear  and  Lust, 


28  PERCY    BTSSHE    SHELLEY. 

And  stifled  thee,  their  minister.     I  know 
Too  late,  since  thou  and  France  are  in  the  dust, 
That  virtue  owns  a  more  eternal  foe 
Than  force  or  fraud ;  old  custom,  legal  crime, 
f       '  And  bloody  Faith,  the  foulest  birth  of  time." 

i  With  full  knowledge  of  all  this,  he  hopefully  looked  with  loving 
eyes  toward  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  to  your  magnificent  con- 
stitution and  model  Republic,  built  onjthe  consolidated  masonic 
bases  of  Liberty,  Equality,  and  Fraternity/  as  did  also  the  mass 
of  my  compatriots,  who,  suffering  under  a  more  intolerant  des- 
potism, and  unable  to  help  themselves,  had  no  hand  or  voice  in 
the  attempted  tyranny,  from  which  your  forefathers  properly 
rebelled  one  hundred  years  age. 

In  "Hellas"  we  find  Shelley  advocating  the  cause  of  Greece,  and 
it  is  believed,  that  that  poem  assisted  his  friend  Byron  in  the 
determination  to  wield  his  sword  in  the  cause  of  Grecian  Liberty. 
"•  TheJR^volti}f_Islam,''  his  most  mystical  work,  next  to  his  early 
effort,  "  St.  Irvyne,  or  the  Rosicrucian,"  is  full  of  the  most 
majestic  and  sympathetic  thoughts,  and  underlying  its  weirdness 
we  have  all  those  elements  "  which  essentially  compose  a  poem 
in  the  cause  of  a  liberal  and  comprehensive  morality,  and  with 
the  view  of  kindling  in  the  bosom  of  his  readers  a  virtuous 
enthusiasm  for  those  doctrines  of  liberty  and  justice,  that  faith 
and  hope  in  something  good,  which  neither  violence,  nor  mis- 
representation, nor  prejudice,  nor  the  continual  presence  and 
pressure  of  evil,  can  ever  totally  extinguish  among  mankind." 
Can  we  wonder  that  Shelley  could  be  else  than  Republican 
when  he  regarded  what  Thackeray  afterward  summed  up  with 
biting  irony,  the  record  of  the  reigning  house  of  Great  Britain, 
the  mad  Guelph  Defenders  of  the  Christian  Faith  (?),  the  results 
of  whose  labors  have  been  corroborated  by  Greville  and  recent 
writers  % 
J  To  what  a  line  of  monarchs,  was  Shelley  called  upon  to  give 
allegiance  and  prostrate  himself  before,  andean  we  be  astonished 
that  he  thus  describes  the  state  thpsejihonrjuMhle  TTgviT <">v^via.n w 
had  i^Enjjlan c[  in  181^  r* ~~~" 

1,  mad,  blind,  despised  and  dying  king, — 
Princes  the  dregs  of  their  dull  race  who  flow 

Through  public  scorn,  mud  from  a  muddy  spring, — 
Ruins  who  neither  see,  nor  feel,  nor  know, 

I3ut  leech-liloe  to  their  fainting  country  cling, 

Till  they  drop  blind  in  blood  without  a  blow, — 


PERCY     BTSSHE    SHELLEY. 

A  people  starved  aiul  stabbed  in  untillcd  field, — 

An  army  which  liberticide  and  prey 
Make  as  a  two-edged  sword  to  all  who  wield, — 

Golden  and  sanguine  laws  which  tempt  and  slay — 
Religion  Christless,  Godless,  a  book  sealed, — 
A  Senate — time's  worst  statute  unrepealed, — 

Are  graves  from  which  a  glorious  phantom  may 
I Burst  to  illumine  our  tempestuous  day  ?  " 

-To  aid  Republicanism,  lie  threw  himself  with  fervor  into  the 
cause  of  the  unhappy  Caroline  of  Brunswick;  and  on  her  ac- 
count he  wrote  "God  Save  the  Queen,"  in  imitation  of 
British  national  anthem,  and  the  satirical  piece  entitled  "  Swell- 
foot,  the  Tyrant."/  In  the  following  words  he  attacked  the 
prime-minister,  Lord  Castleragh,  whose  reactionary  counsels  were, 
transforming  England  into  a  state  analogous  to  that  of  Russia 
to-day  : 

"  Then  trample  and  dance,  thou  oppressor, 
For  thy  victim  is  no  redressor ! 
Thou  art  sole  lord  and  possessor 
Of  her  corpses,  and  clods  and  abortions — they  pave 
Thy  path  to  a  grave. 

For  the  Lord  Chancellor,  Eldon,  his  hatred  was  intense  ;  for,  in 
addition  to  the  crime  of  robbing  him  of  his  children,  this  occupant 
of  the  wool-sack,  had  made  the  seat^of  justice  an  appanage  for 
liis  lust  of  wealth  and  power.  I  have  already  quoted  some  ver- 
ses on  this  renowned  lawyer,  and  will  now  present  you  with  two 
others  bearing  on  the  same  subject : 

"  Next  came  Fraud,  and  he  had  on, 
Like  Lord  Eldon,  an  ermine  gown  ; 
His  big  tears  (for  he  wept  well) 
Turned  to  mill  stones  as  they  fell ; 

k  "  And  tlie  little  children,  who 

Round  his  feet  played  to  and  fro, 

Thinking  every  tear  a  gem, 

Had  their  brains  knocked  out  by  them." 

InQ.ueen  Mcib,  Shelley  has  presented  us  with  an  unmistaki 
portraiture  of  the  "First  Gentleman  in  Europe;"  and  in  the 
following  lines,  which  I  have  taken  from  this  poem,  I  have 
chosen    two    extracts,    descriptive  of    the  origin  of    political 
despotism,  and  the  reason  of  its  continuance  : 

"  Whence,  thinkest  thou,  kings  and  parasites  arose? 
Whence  that  unnatural  line  of  drones,  who  heap 
Toil  and  unvanquishable  penury 


30  PERCY  BYSSHE  SHELLEY. 

On  those  who  build  their  palaces,  and  bring 

Their  daily  bread  ?     From  vice,  black,  loathsome  vice, 

From  rapine,  madness,  treachery  and  wrong  ; 

From  all  that  genders  misery,  and  makes 

Of  earth  this  thorny  wilderness  ;  from  lust, 

Revenge  and  murder." 

***** 
"  Nature  rejects  the  monarch,  not  the  man  ; 
The  subject,  not  the  citizen  ;  for  kings 
And  subjects,  mutual  foes,  forever  play 
A  losing  game  into  each  other's  hands, 
Whose  stakes  are  vice  and  misery.     The  man 
Of  virtuous  soul  commands  not  nor  obeys. 
Power,  like  a  desolating  pestilence, 
Pollutes  whate'er  it  touches  ;  and  obedience, 
Bane  of  all  genius,  virtue,  freedom,  truth, 
Makes  slaves  of  men,  and  of  the  human  frame 
A  mechanized  automaton." 

lley  believed  in  ref<  rmation,  not  revolution;  and  in  the 
Ri  .    ..  of  .  and  Ms  Irish  pamphlets,  we  find  him  advo- 

cating a  bloodless  revolution,  except  where  force  was  used7~and 
•theiT force  for  force,  if  compromise  were  hopeless.  His  idea  was 
ever  the  foundation  of  political  systems  founded  on  that  of  this 
country,  or  on  the  ancient  Greek  Republic.     He  says  : 

"  The  study  of  modern  history  is  the  study  of  kings,  financiers,  statesmen,  and 
priests.  The  history  of  ancient  Greece  is  the  study  of  legislators,  philosophers,  and 
poets  ;  it  is  the  history  of  men  compared  with  the  history  of-  titles.  What  the  Greeks 
were  was  a  reality,  not  a  promise.  And  what  we  are  and  hope  to  be  is  derived,  as  it 
were,  from  the  influence  of  these  glorious  generations." 

Hoping  almost  against  hope  for  the  regeneration  of  his  coun- 
try, he  submitted  to  the  people  of  England  a  proposal  for 
putting  to  the  vote  the  great  reform  question,  which  was  filling  the 
public  mind  ;  but  he  was  conscious  that  in  the  then  unprepared 
state  of  public  knowledge  and  feeling,  universal  suffrage  was 
fraught  with  peril,  and  remarks  that  although 

"  A  pure  republic  may  be  shown,  by  inferences  the  most  obvious  and  irresistible,  to 
be  that  system  of  social  order  the  fittest  to  produce  the  happiness  and  promote  the  genu- 
ine eminence  of  man.  Yet  nothing  can  less  consist  with  reason,  or  afford  smaller  hopes  of 
any  beneficial  issue,  than  the  plan  which  should  abolish  the  regal  and  the  aristocratical 
branches  of  our  constitution,  before  the  public  mind,  through  many  gradations  of  improve- 
ment, shall  have  arrived  at  the  maturity  which  shall  disregard  these  symbols  of  its  child- 
hood." 

An  essay  has  come  down  to  us  (unhappily  unfinished),  in 
which  he  argues  in  favor  of  "Government  by  Juries."  It  is 
but  a  fragment,  and  yet  it  shows  us  that  his  mind  was  ever  in 


PERCY    BYSSHE    SHELLEY.  31 

search  of  the  right  solution  of  the  question  of  proper  Legislation 
for  the  masses.  William  Pitt,  with  enemies  on  every  side,  pub- 
licly acknowledged  the  extraordinary  genius  which  impelled  the 
American  resolution,  and  admired  the  constitution  of  this  coun- 
try, as  well  as  the  masterly  character  of  the  "Declaration  of 
Independence."  In  unstinted  praise  does  he  speak  of  the  learn- 
ing and  remarkable  public  spirit  of  the  signers.  With  equal 
praise,  I  am  confident,  everyone  must  eulogize  the  "Declaration 
of  Rights,"  compiled  by  Shelley,  which  he  put  befoi-e  his  coun- 
trymen sixty-three  years  ago.  Therein  he  has  given  the  whole 
of  his  conception  of  the  correct  theory  of  government,  and  it 
cannot  fail  to  be  read  by  advanced  minds  with  feeling 
genuine  pleasure. 

The  race  has  suffered  through  its  long  martyrdom  with  the 
horrors' of  war.  One  tyrant  after  another,  to  aid  his  accurse  I 
ambition~br  revenge  his_spite  upon  a  brother   monarch,    has 

C n^erTthp.   unhappy  pq.H"    a.nrl    Immunity    with    the   terrors  of 

long- continued  jdeyastation  ._an&__bloodjshed.      With    bui 
pen  has  Shelley  depicted  war  in  its  most  hideous  aspects,  and  by 
most  beautiful  comparisons  has  he  shown  us  the  sublimity  of 
peace.     He  points  out,  that 

*'  War  is  the  statesman's  game,  the  priest's  delight, 
The  lawyer's  jest,  the  hired  assassin's  trade." 

He  repudiates  the  notion  that  man,  if  left  free,  would  wan- 
tonly heap  ruin,  vice,  or  slavery,  or  curse  his  species  with  the 
withering  blight  of  war  ;  and  he  shows  us  how 

"  Kings,  priests,  and  statesmen  blast  the  human  flower, 
Even  in  its  tender  bud  ;  their  influence  darts 
Like  subtle  poison  through  the  bloodless  veins 
Of  desolate  society.     The  child, 
Ere  he  can  lisp  his  mother's  sacred  name, 
Swells  with  the  unnatural  pride  of  crime,  and  lifts 
His  baby  sword  even  in  a  hero's  mood. 
This  infant  arm  becomes  the  bloodiest  scourge 
Of  devastated  earth:  whilst  specious  names, 
Learnt  in  soft  childhood's  unsuspecting  hour, 
Serve  as  the  sophisms  with  which  manhood  dims 
Bright  reason's  ray,  and  sanctifies  the  sword 
Upraised  to  shed  a  brother's  innocent  blood." 

In  other  places  he  seems  to  prophetically  point  out  what  this 
generation  appears  to  comprehend— the  judiciousness  of  arbi- 
tration— which  in  the  future  will  be  the  true  panacea  for  this 
frightful  affliction  of  huinanity. 


82  PERCY   BYSSHE    SHELLEY. 

To  the  current  Irish  questions  Shelley  devoted  much  of  his 
time,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Dublin,  to  aid  the  indepen- 
dence of  Ireland,  which  might,  under  proper  treatment,  have 
been  made  one~of  the  brightest  spots  in  the  British  Dominions  ; 
but  the  inhabitants  of  which)  owing  to  centuries  of  English  mis- 
rule and  oppressionJTiad,  in  certain  parts,  fallen  into  a  condi- 
tion not  much  superior  to  that  of  those  of  Central  Africa. 
When  we  contemplate  what  Ireland  was  before  the  Norman  and 
Saxon  had  set  their  feet  there,  the  most  prejudiced  antagonist 
of  the  Celtic  race  cannot  but  be  astonished  at  the  picture  pre- 
sented to  us  after  their  usurpation.  When  Saxondom  was  in  a 
state  of  barbarism,  this  branch  of  the  Celts  was  civilized. 
Aldfred,  king  of  the  Northumbrian  Saxons,  has  given  us  the 
experiences  of  a  Saxon  in  Ireland  over  a  thousand  years  ago. 
In  a  poem  of  his  own  composing,  he  tells  us  that  he  found 
"noble,  prosperous  sages,"  "learning,  wisdom,  welcome,  and 
protection,"  "kings,  queens,  and  royal  bards,  in  every  species 
of  poetry  well  skilled.  Happiness,  comfort,  and  pleasure,"  the 
people  "famed  for  justice,  hospitality,  lasting  vigor,  fame," 
and  "  long  blooming  beauty,  hereditary  vigor  " — and  the  mon- 
arch concludes  his  really  curious  account  by  saying  : 

"I  found  in  the  fair,  surfaced  Leinster, 
From  Dublin  to  Slewmargy, 
Long-living  men,  health,  prosperity, 
Bravery,  hardihood  and  traffic. 

I  found  from  Ara  to  Gle, 
In  the  rich  country  of  Ossory, 
Sweet  fruit,  strict  jurisdiction, 
Men  of  truth,  chess-playing. 

I  found  in  the  great  fortress  of  Meath, 
Valor,  hospitality,  and  truth, 
Bravery,  purity,  and  mirth — 
The  protection  of  ail  Ireland. 

I  found  the  aged  of  strict  morals, 
The  historians  recording  truth — 
Each  good,  each  benefit  that  I  have  sung, 
In  Ireland  I  have  seen." 

Such  is  the  statement  of  King  Aldfred,  and  the  Venerable 
Bede  informs  us  that  in  Ireland,  Saxons  and  other  foreigners 


PEEOT    BY88HE    BHELLEY. 

were  "hospitably  received,  entertained  and  educated,  furnished 
with  books,"  etc.,  all  gratuitously. 

Up  to  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  I  find,  after  careful 
study  in  the  Leabhar-Gabhala,  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  of 
Clonmacnoise,  of  Loch  Ce,  and  other  historical  records,  the 
same  continued  apparent  prosperity,  but  after  the  English  took 
possession  of  the  larger  portion  of  the  country,  only  the  records 
of  anarchy,  despotism,  andmisery.  Before  the  Reformation,  or 
so  long  as  the  English  settlers  remained  within  the  pale.  Ireland 
had  been  as  happy  as  Ultramontanism  would  allow,  but  from 
the  accession  of  Elizabeth  and  the  consequent  attempted  enf< 
men t  of  a  new  theology,  against  the  wishes_oi  the  people,  a 
fearful  succession  of  despotism  is  revealed.  VTo  force  Protestant- 
ism on  the  Irish,  Catholicism  was  put  down  by  the  most  strin- 
gent laws — the  torture  chamber  never  empty,  the  scaffold  rarely 
free  from  executions,  t^he  seaports  closed,  and  manufactures 
forbidden  to  be  exported  ;/"  black  laws  "  of  a  most  iniquitous 
character,  exceeding  in  ingenuity  the  devices  of  Tilly  or  Tor- 
quemada,  placed  on  the  statute  book.  The  punishment  for 
being  a  recusant  Catholic,  or  Papist,  was  death,  and  it  is  a 
known  fact  that  one  Protestant  commander,  Sir  William  Cole, 
of  Fermanagh,  made  his  soldiers  massacre  in  a  short  period 
"  seven  thousand  of  the  vulgar  sort,"  as  Borlase  informs  us. 
Elsewhere  the  English  behaved  in  the  same  manner,  and  on  the 
authority  of  Bishop  Moran  it  is  asserted  that  the  Puritans  of 
the  North  shot  down  Catholics  as  wild  beasts,  and  made  it  their 
business  "  to  imbrue  their  swords  in  the  hearts'  blood  of  the 
male  children."  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall,  in  their  valuable  work 
on  Ireland,  state  that  the  possessors  of  the  whole  province  of 
Ulster  were  driven  out  under  pain  of  mortal  punishment  from 
their  homes  and  lands,  without  roof  over  their  heads,  to  be  pent 
up  in  the  most  barren  portion  of  Connaught,  where  to  pass 
certain  boundary  line  was  instant  death  without  trial,  and 
where  it  was  commonly  said,  "There  is  not  wood  enough  to 
hang  a  man,  water,  enough  to  drown  him,  nor  earth  enough  to 
bury  him."  "One  hundred  thousand  Catholics  were  sold  as 
slaves  to  the  West  Indian  and  North  American  planters  by  the 
public  authority  of  the  Cromwellian  government.  Such  was 
the  wray  these  Christians  showed  their  love  for  their  fellow 
ChristiansTand  can  it  be  wondered  that   ever  since  then   there 


31  PEECY   ETSSHE    SHELLEY. 

lias  been  one  continual  succession  of  uprisings  in  that  most  un- 
happy country  ?  As  the  sinew  of  Ireland' s  people  in  this  country 
were  driven  by  necessity,  fleeing  from  the  terrors  of  starvation 
and  insufficient  existence  at  home,  so  were  the  best  of  the  race 
in  the  two  previous  centuries  necessitated  to  fly  to  the  European 
continent,  where  we  find  them  enrolled,  for  instance,  in  the 
service  of  the  King  of  France,  and  having  revenge  on  their  op- 
pressors on  the  field  of  Fontenoy.  Elsewhere  in  every  country 
of  Europe  do  we  discover  them  or  their  descendants  in  the  front 
ranks,  and  at  the  helm  of  affairs — in  Spain,  O'Donnell  and 
Prim  ;  in  France,  Mac  Mahon  and  Lally  Tollendal ;  in  Austria, 
O'Taafe  and  Maguire. 

When  Shelley  arrived  in  Dublin  in  1812,  he  soon  found  him- 
self joined  to  the  body  of  the  Repeal  party,  which  was  endeavor- 
ing to  obtain  back  the  parliament  which  had  been  stolen  from 
them  by  British  gold,  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  before, 
and  to  have  the  Catholic  Emancipation  Bill  made  law.  Ho 
published  two  remarkable  political  pamphlets,  in  those  days 
the  only  mode  by  which  a  statesman  could  appeal  to  the  people, 
in  which  it  may  be  noticed  how  well  he  could  write  in  a  pop- 
ular style,  to  effectually  serve  a  purpose.  They  also  prove 
his  enthusiasm  for  the  liberty  of  discussion,  and  how,  although 
he  was  always  willing  to  treat  on  politics  alone,  he  was  pre- 
occupied with  metaphysical  questions  which  continually  crop 
out. 

In  the  first,  which  he ,  called  Aju^d&wss  to  the  -JHsftrttople, 
and  wrote  during  the  first  week  of  his  residence  in  Ireland, 
he  commences  by  eulogizing  the  Irish,  explains  to  them  that 
all  religions  are  good,  which  make  men  good,  and  shows  that? 
being  neither  Protestant  nor  Catholic,  he  can  offer  the  olive 
"brauch  to  each.  He  then  points  out  the  weak  spots  in  each 
other's  conduct  in  the  past,  the  necessity  of  toleration,  and  the 
crime  of  persecution — how  different  this  was  to  what  Christ 
taught ! 

TTf :  PTiifa!Wff&  ta  prove.  t>mfr  nrmg  should  not  be  used — t|iat 
the  French  Revolution,  although  undertaken  with  the  best  in- 
tentions, ended  badly  because  force  was  employed.  He  recom- 
mends sobriety,  regularity  and  thought ;  for  the  Irish  not  to 
appeal  to  bloodshed,  but  to  agitate  determinedly  for  Catholic 
emancipation  and  repeal,  which  should  be  ensured  through  the 


PERCY    BYSSHB    8HELLET.  3fi 

use  of  moral  persuasion.  And  concluding  with  an  appeal  to 
Catholic  and  Protestant  to  bear  with  each  other,  using  mildness 
and  benevolence,  and  to  mutually  organize  a  society  which 

"Shall  serve  as  a  bond  to  its  members  for  the  purpose  of  virtue,  happiness,  liberty  and 
wisdom  by  the  means  of  intellectual  opposition  to  grievances," 

he  winds  up  by  saying : 

"  Adieu,  my  friends  !     May  every  sun  that  shines  on  your  green  islan  :iini- 

hilation  of  an  abuse,  and  the  birth  of  an  embryon  of  melioration  !  Your  own  hearts — 
may  they  become  the  shrines  of  purity  and  freedom,  and  never  may  smoke  to  the 
Mammon  of  Unrighteousness  ascend  from  the  polluted  altar  of  their  devotion." 

In  a  postscript  to  this  pamphlet,  he  urges 

"A  plan  of  amendment  and  regeneration  in  the  moral  and  political  state  of  society, 
on  a  comprehensive  and  systematic  philanthropy  which  shall  be  sure,  though  slow  in  its 
projects  ;  and  as  it  is  without  the  rapidity  and  clanger  of  revolution,  so  will  it  be  devoid 
of  the  time-servingness  of  temporizing  reform  ; " 

and  quotes  Lafayette : 

"A  name  endeared  by  its  peerless  bearer  to  every  lover  of  the  human  race,  '  For  a 
nation  to  love  liberty,  it  is  sufficient  that  she  knows  it  to  be  free  ;  it  is  sufficient  that  she 
wills  it.' " 

His  other  Dublin  pamphlet,  A  Proposal  for  an  Association 
of  Philanthropists,  consists  of  remarks  of  the  same  character 
as  the  former,  but  he  gives  a  summary  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, which  he  endeavors  to  clear  from  the  slurs  which  had  been 
cast  thereon.  The  information  has  come  down  to  us  through 
one  of  Shelley's  biographers,  that  he  spoke  at  several  meetings 
in  Dublin.  At  the  one  in  which  he  made  his  first  appearance  in 
public  he  aroused  a  large  assembly  to  enthusiasm  by  his  fervid 
eloquence,  and  yet,  notwithstanding  all  his  efforts,  his  toleration 
unfortunately  became  the  great  stumbling-block  in  his  attempts 
on  behalf  of  Ireland,  for  we  learn  that  at  another  meeting  of 
patriots  : 

"So  much  ill-will  against  the  Protestants  was  shown,  that  Shelley  was  provoked  to 
remark  that  the  Protestants  were  fellow-Christians  and  fellow-subjects,  and  were  therefore 
entitled  to  equal  rights  and  equal  toleration  with  the  Papists.  Of  course,  he  was  forth- 
with interrupted  by  savage  yells.  A  tierce  uproar  ensued,  and  the  denouncer  of  bigotry 
was  compelled  to  be  silent.  At  the  same  meeting,  and  afterward,  he  was  even  threatened 
.vith  personal  violence,  and  the  police  suggested  to  him  the  propriety  of  quitting  the 
country." 

By  many  it  has  been  said  that  Shelley  was  unsuccessful  in 
his  self-imposed  task,  but  he  was  simply  before  his  time,  and  no 


36  PERCY   BYSSHE    SHELLEY- 

wonder,  when  we  remember  the  condition  of  Ireland  at  the  time 
of  his  v^git C 

\3i-e  know  to-day  that  much  of  what  he  demanded  has  been 
conceded  to  Ireland  by  liberal  English  governments.  An  alien 
Church  has  been  disestablished ;  public  education,Catholic 
emancipation,  and  a  good  deal  more,  has  been  given.  /  In  the 
late  repeal  movement,  the  young  Ireland  party,  the  Fenian 
organization,  and  the  present  Home  Rule  agitation,  we  find,  as 
Shelley  wished,  Catholic  and  Protestant  working  arm  in  arm,  their 
colors  being  an  admixture  of  orange  and  green — a  healthy  sign. 
Those  who  dislike  this  noble  people  —  for  the  name  is  legion 
of  those  who  are  fond  of  shouting  "No  Irish  need  apply''  —  I 
would  recommend  to  think  calmly  over  Irish  history,  to  remem- 
ber the  frightful  outrages  put  upon  this  generous,  warm-hearted, 
and  impulsive  race  for  centuries,  and  read  up  Froude,  Mitchell, 
Goldwin-Smith,  McGee,  Moran,  and  other  Irish  historians. 

We  know  what  the  Irish  are  capable  of,  and  that  in  Ireland, 
as  here,  after  a  generation  or  two  of  education,  the  old  theo- 
logical belief  becomes  by  a  gradual  process  less  and  less  strong. 

(On  September  6th,  1819,  a  red  letter  day  was  added  to  the 
English  calendar,  through  the  slaughter  by  cavalry  of  a  number 
of  unarmed  men,  who  were  agitating,  peaceably,  for  the  rights 
of  labor.  This  is  known  to  posterity  as  the  "Peterloo  Mas- 
sacre," and  happened  in  Manchester,  [on  the  site  of  the  present 
superb  Free  Trade  Hall,  erected  by  the  Free  Traders  to  com- 
memorate the  ultimate  triumph  of  their  cause  over  the  capital- 
ists, who,  in  the  manufacturing  districts,  were,  until  a  few  years 
back,  always  aided  by  the  military  in  putting  down  strikes  or 
demands  for  increase  of  wages. 

]  At  the  time  of  this  outrage  Shelley  was  in  Italy ;  in  conse- 
quence of  it  his  attention  was  concentrated  more  than  previously 
on  the  labor  question,  and  he  immediately  composed  half  a 
dozen  inspiriting  poems,  full  of  the  fire  of  genius  ;  in  one  of 
which  he  calls,  with  a  voice  of  thunder,  to  the 

i. 

"  Men  of  England  !  wherefore  plough 
For  the  lords  who  lay  ye  low  ? 
Wherefore  weave,  with  toil  and  care, 
The  rich  robes  your  tyrants  wear? 


PERCY   BYSSHE    SHELLEY.  37 

II. 

Wherefore  feed  and  clothe  and  save, 
From  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
Those  ungrateful  drones  who  would 
Drain  your  sweat — nay,    drink  your  blood? 

III. 
Wherefore,  bees  of  England,  forge 
Many  a  weapon,  chain,  and  scourge, 
That  these  stingless  drones  may  spoil 
The  forced  produce  of  your  toil  ? 

IV. 
Have  ye  leisure,  comfort,  calm, 
Shelter,  food,  love's  gentle  balm  ? 
Or  what  is  't  ye  buy  so  dear 
With  your  pain,  and  with  your  fear  ? 

V. 

The  seed  ye  sow,  another  reaps  ; 
The  wealth  ye  find  another  keeps  ; 
The  robes  ye  weave,  another  wears  ; 
The  arms  ye  forge,  another  bears. 

VI. 
Sow  seed — but  let  no  tyrant  reap  ; 
Find  wealth — let  no  impostor  heap  ; 
Weave  robes — let  not  the  idle  wear  ; 
Forge  arms — in  your  defence  to  bear. 

VII. 
Shrink  to  your  cellars,  holes,  and  cells  ; 
In  halls  ye  deck,  another  dwells. 
Why  shake  the  chains  ye  wrought  ?     Ye  see 
The  steel  ye  tempered,  glance  on  ye  ! 

VIII. 
With  plough  and  spade,  and  hoe  and  loom, 
Trace  your  grave,  and  build  your  tomb, 
And  weave  your  winding  sheet,  till  fair 
England  be  your  sepulchre  !" 

By  far  the  finest  composition  brought   out  by  this   occasion   v 
was  the  "  Masque  of  Anarchy,"  a  magnificent  poem  of  ninety- 
one   verses.     "Anarchy"   he  describes  as  riding  "on  a  white 
horse,"*  in  alliance  with  theology  and  statecraft,  and  whose  ad- 
mirers were  "lawyers  and  priests." 

*  This  doubtless  alludes   to  the  House  of  Hanover,  the  principal  charge  on  whose 
armorial  bearings  is  a  white  horse. 


'SS  PERCY   BYSSHE    SHELLEY. 

After  a  series  of  powerful  delineations,  he  describes  slavery 
and  freedom,  justice,  wisdom,  peace  and  love,  in  exquisite 
terms.  Then  he  turns  to  their  lamps— science,  poetry,  and 
thought,  which  make  secure  "the  lot  of  the  dwellers  in  the  cot." 
[Headvises — That,  on  some  spot  of  English  ground,  should 
be  convened  a  great  assembly  of  the  fearless  and  the  free, 
who  shall  come  from  the  bounds  of  the  English  coast,  and 
from  every  hut,  village,  and  town,  where,  for  other's  misery 
and  their  own,  they  live,  suffer,  and  moan.7  Also, 

"  From  the  workhouse  and  the  prison, 
Where,  pale  as  corpses  newly  risen, 
Women,  children,  young  and  old, 
Groan  for  pain,  and  weep  for  cold  ; 

"From  the  haunts  of  daily  life, 
Where  is  waged  the  daily  strife 
With  common  wants  and  common  cares, 
^_^- —  Which  sow  the  human  heart  with  tares." 

When  face  to  face  with  their  oppressors,  no  force  should 
be  used,  but  instead    ,/ 

' —      "  strong  and  simple  words, 
Keen  to  wound  as  sharpened  swords, 
And  wide  as  targes  let  them  be, 
With  their  shade  to  cover  ye." 

The  description  of  the  Peterloo  massacre  which  follows,  is  one 
of  the  finest  pieces  of  composition  in  the  language,  and  the  poem 
concludes  by  calling  the  "  Men  of  England,  Heirs  of  Glory,  He- 
roes of  Unwritten  Story,"  to 

"  Rise  like  lions  after  slumber 
In  unvanquishable  NUMBER  ! 
Shake  your  chains  to  earth,  like  dew 
Which  in  sleep  had  fall'n  on  you  ; 
'Ye  are  many — they  are  few.'  " 

In  a  pamphlet,  written  ostensibly  on  the  death  of  the  Princess 
Charlotte,  he  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  three  men  had  been 
executed  in  the  interests  of  the  "big-hearted  and  generous 
capitalists,"  of  whom  we  now-a-days  hear  so  much  from  their 
interested  admirers,  but  whose  wings  are  now  fortunate  l}r 
clipped. 

Shelley  considered  that  there  was  no  real  wealth  but  man's 
labor,  and  that  speculators  pandering  to  selfishness,  the  twin- 


PERCY  BYSSHE    8HELLEY. 

sister  of  debased  theology,  took  a  pride  in  the  production  of 
useless  articles  of  luxury  and  ostentationf/  Imbued  with  this 
spirit,  a  man  of  wealth  imagines  himself  a  patriot  when  employ- 
ing laborers  on  the  erection  of  a  mansion,  or  a  woman  of  fashion 
indulging  in  luxurious  dress,  fancies  she  is  aiding  the  Laboring 
poor.     He  observes  of  such  instances  as  these  : 

"  Who  does  not  see  that  this  is  a  remedy  which  aggravates,  whilst  it  palliates  tlie 
co-intless  diseases  of  society?  The  poor  are  set  to  labor — for  what  ?  Nol  the  food  for 
which  they  famish  ;  not  the  blankets  for  want  of  which  their  babes  are  frozen  by  the  cold 
of  their  miserable  hovels  ;  not  those  comforts  of  civilization  without  which  civilized  man 
is  far  more  miserable  than  the  meanest  savage,  oppressed  as  he  is  by  all  its  insidious  evils, 
•within  the  daily  and  taunting  prospect  of  its  innumerable  benefits  assiduously  exhibited 
before  him ;  no,  for  the  pride  of  power,  for  the  miserable  isolation  of  pride,  for  the 
false  pleasures  of  the  hundredth  part  of  society." 

'Labor  is  required  for  physical,  and  leisure  for  moral  improve- 
ment. What  is  wanted,  he  considered,  is  a  state  to  combine 
the  advantages  of  both  and  have  the  evils  of  neither.  In  fad, 
any  unnecessary  labor  which  deprives  the  race  of  intellectual 
gain,  and  all  times  not  required  for  the  manufacture  of  com- 
modities which  are  necessary  for  the  subsistence  of  humanity, 
should  be  occupied  only  in  mental  or  plrysical  culture.  / 

Shelley  lays  down  as  a  principle  that  commerce  is  the  venal 
interchange  of  what  human  art  or  nature  yields,  and  which 
should  not  be  purchased  by  wealth,  but  demanded  by  want. 
Labor  and  commerce,  when  badly  regulated,  scatter  withering 
curses  and  open 

"The  doors  to  premature  and  violent  death, 
To  penury,  famine,  and  full-fed  disease." 

Wealth  was  a  living  God,  who  rules  in  scorn,  and  whom 
peasants,  nobles,  priests,  and  kings  blindly  reverence,  and  by 
whom  everything  is  sold — the  light  of  heaven,  earth's  produce, 
the  peace  of  outraged  conscience,  the  most  despicable  things, 
every  object  of  life,  and  even  life  itself. 

In  a  proper  condition  of  society,  which  should  be  strictly  co- 
operative, there  would  necessarily  be  no  pauperism,  and 

"  No  meditative  signs  of  selfishness, 
No  jealous  intercourse  of  wretched  gain, 
No  balancings  of  prudence,  cold  and  long  ; 
In  just  and  equal  measure  all  is  weighed  ; 
One  scale  contains  the  sum  of  human  veal. 
And  one  the  good  man's  heart." 


40  PEECY   BYSSHE    SHELLEY. 

The  fruits  of  Shelley's  enunciations  on  the  labor  and  capital 
questions,  and  the  school  of  political  economists  to  which  he 
belonged,  have  made  wondrous  progress.  The  world  is  begin- 
ning to  see  that  labor  has  the  unrestricted  right  of  coalition,  that 
there  should  be  only  a  standard  day's  work,  according  to  the 
wants  of  society,  with  prohibition  of  labor  for  at  least  one  day 
in  the  week  ;  that  legislation  is  required  for  the  protection  of 
the  life  and  health  of  the  working  man,  and  that  mines,  factories, 
and  workshops  should  be  strictly  controlled  by  sanitary  officers 
selected  by  labor  ;  that  no  children's  work  should  be  permitted, 
or  women's,  which  may  be  considered  unhealthy;  that  prison 
work  should  be  regulated,  and  that  laborers'  co-operative  and 
benevolent  societies  should  be  administered  independently  of 
the  State. 

Liberals  must  learn  from  their  enemies,  must  organize  and  let 
the  ramifications  of  unshackled  thought  spread  through  the  lands, 
and  must,  above  all,  conserve  the  control  of  education.  Where- 
ever  there  is  a  church  or  chapel,  let  there  be  beside  it  a  hall  or 
club,  in  which  shall  be  inculcated  the  simple  doctrines  of  a  pure, 
integralised  religion. 

On  the  statute  book  of  England  there  yet  remains  a  law  di- 
rected against  the  freedom  of  the  press  and  discussion  ;  to  even 
discuss  the  question  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  was  considered 
blasphemy,  and  the  person  so  offending  was  punished  most  se- 
verely by  the  criminal  laws.  At  the  present  time  this  wretched 
remnant  of  the  dark  ages  is  practically  a  dead  letter.  The 
friends  of  Shelley  suffered  from  this  most  intolerant  spirit. 
Keats,  it  is  believed  by  many,  was  wounded  unto  death  for  dar- 
ing to  speak  on  behalf  of  freedom,  and  we  •  are  given  glimpses 
in  the  Adonais  of  his  feelings  on  the  subject ;  Leigh  Hunt 
and  his  brother  were  imprisoned  and  fined  for  the  same ;  the 
publisher  of  the  pirated  edition  of  Shelley's  Queen  Jfrrf)  was 
cast  into  Newgate ;  Eaton,  a  London  bookseller,  had  been  sen- 
tenced by  Lord  Ellenborough  to  a  lengthened  incarceration,  for 
publishing  Paine' s  Age  of  Reason,  and  hundreds  of  others  suf- 
fered similarly.  The  abominable  circumstance  of  Eaton  s  con- 
viction caused  great  uproar ;  the  Marquis  of  TVellesley;  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  stated  it  was  "  contrary  to  the  mild  spirit  of  the 
Christian  religion ;  for  no  sanction  can  be  found  under  that  dis- 
pensation which  will  warrant  a  government  to  impose  disabilities 


PEKOY    RYSSHK    SHKLLEY.  li 

and  penalties  upon  any  man  on  acconnt  of  his  religions  opin- 
ions." Shelley,  who  was  then  only  nineteen  years  of  age,  and 
had  himself  suffered  from  bigotry  at  Oxford,  threw  himself  pub- 
licly into  the  controversy  with  great  vehemence,  with  "a  com- 
position of  great  eloquence  and  logical  exactness  of  reasoning, 
and  the  truths  which  it  contains  on  the  subject  of  universal  tol- 
eration are  now  generally  admitted.".  Lady  Shelley,  IV  >m  whom 
Ihave  just  quoted,  says  that  her  husband's  father,  "from  his 
earliest  boyhood  to  his  latest  years,  whatever  varieties  of  opinion 
.may  have  marked  his  intellectual  course,  never  for  a  moment 
swerved  from  the  noble  doctrine  of  unbounded  liberty  of  t  hought 
and  speech.  To  him  the  rights  of  intellect  were  sacred  ;  and  all 
kings,  teachers,  or  priests  who  sought  to  circumscribe  the  activ- 
ity of  discussion,  and  to  check  by  force  the  full  developmenl  of 
the  reasoning  powers,  he  regarded  as  enemies  to  the  independ- 
ence of  man,  who  did  their  utmost  to  destroy  the  spiritual 
^essence  of  our  being. ' ' 

""TcTShelley' s  able  advocacy,  and  to  his  appeals  against  tin- 
stamping  out  of  political  and  social  truths  opposed  to  custom, 
particularly  the  celebrated  letter  to  Lord  Ellenborough,  it  can- 
not be  denied  that  the  toleration  now  enjoyed  in  Great  Britain 
owes  much.  ^ 

Shelley~w?is  one  of  those  who  most  earnestly  deprecated  pun- 
ishment by  death.  In  his  early  years,  if  a  man  stole  a  sheep, 
or  shot  a  hare,  committed  forgery  or  larceny,  was  a  recusant 
catholic  or  a  wizard,  there  was,  on  his  conviction,  but  one  pen- 
alty meted  out — death.  To  Shelley's  sensitive  nature,  this 
painted  and  tinged  everything  around  him  with  an  aspect  of 
blood.  In  one  of  his  political  pamphlets,  summoning  all  his 
energies,  he  depicts  in  fearful  colors,  the  depraved  example  of 
an  execution— how  it  brutalized  the  race,  and  how  it  was  the  duty 
of  man  not  to  commit  murder  on  his  fellow-man,  in  the  name 
of  the  laws.  The  abolition  of  the  first  of  these,  he  stated  that 
reformers  should  propose  on  the  eve  of  a  great  political  change. 
He  considered  that  the  punishment  by  death  harbored  revenge  and 
retaliation,  which  legislation  should  be  the  means  of  eradica- 
ting, and  he  urged  that 

"Governments  which  derive  their  institutions  from  the  existence  of  circumstances  of  b.ir- 
barism  and  violence,  with  some  rare  exception-,  perhaps,  are  bloody  in  proportion  as  they 
are  despotic,  and  form  the  manners  of  their  subjects  to  a  sympathy  with  their  own  spirit." 


42  PEECT  BYSSHE    SHELLEY. 

In  England,  as  in  many  other  countries,  capital  punishment  is 
now  only  employed  on  conviction  of  murder  or  high  treason. 
In  Spain  and  Italy  it  was  totally  abolished,  on  the  foundation 
of  their  young  republics.  Thus  have  the  labors  of  Shelley,  and 
other  reformers  for  the  good  of  humanity,  aided  to  extinguish 
crime  made  law. 

Cruelty  to  animals  was  another  reform  agitated  by  Shelley. 
His  love  for  the  animal  kingdom  and  hatred  of  blood-shedding, 
was  so  great,  that  he  personally  carried  the  passion  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  become  a  vegetarian,  and  endeavored  to  induce 
others  to  be  the  same,  in  an  admirable  argument  of  some  length 
in  the  notes  to  "  Queen  Mab." 

The  subject  of  the  Eights  of  Women  is  approached  and  expa- 
tiated on,  perhaps  learnedly,  by  individuals  utterly  incompetent 
to  deal  with  the  question.  Such  persons,  frequently  armed  with 
Sunday-school  platitudes,  believing  in  the  inferiority  of  women, 
consequent  on  the  supposed  fall,  and  doubtless  with  heads  paved 
with  good  intentions,  as  a  certain  place  is  said  to  be,  do  more 
harm  than  good  to  the  cause.  This  is  not  wanted,  and  is  worse 
than  useless.  To  found  a  real  republic  on  a  solid  basis,  it  can 
be  legislated  for  only  by  removing  the  ancient  landmarks  by  a 
gradual  process,  and  coming  face  to  face  with  a  new  order  of 
things,  without  bias  or  prejudice  borrowed  from  the  past.  Thus 
that  noble  woman,  Mary  Wolstonecraft,  as  well  as  John  Stuart 
Mill,  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley,  and  numerous  others,  have  treated 
this  all-important  question,  which  caunot  be  shirked  by  the  race. 
True  reformers  ask :  What  was  the  condition  of  the  sex  in  the 
past  1  Look  down  the  revolving  cycles  and  note.  In  ancient 
Egypt,  woman  in  the  upper  classes  was  almost  the  equal  of  man, 
and  although,  like  Cleopatra,  she  could  wield  the  sceptre,  yet  in 
the  lower  her  condition  was  wretched  ;  in  Asia,  a  mere  slave  and 
object  of  Zenana  lust ;  in  savaged om,  a  beast  of  burthen.  In 
Rome  and  Greece,  Shelley  shall  tell  the  story  : 

"  Among  the  ancient  Greeks  the  male  sex,  one  half  of  the  human  race,  received  the 
highest  cultivation  and  refinement;  whilst  the  other,  so  far  as  intellect  is  concerned,  were 
educated  as  slaves,  and  were  raised  but  few  degrees  in  all  that  related  to  moral  or  intel- 
lectual excellence  above  the  condition  of  savages.  *  *  *  The  Roman  women  held 
a  higher  consideration  in  society,  and  were  esteemed  almost  as  the  equal  partners  with  their 
husbands  in  the  regulation  of  domestic  economy  and  the  education  o'  their  children." 

Regard  the  incidents  of  a  Jewish  wooing,  in  which  the  woman 


PERCY  BYS8HE    SHELLEY. 

had  no  voice,  and  of  the  marriage,  the  infernal  punishments  for 
adultery,  and  the  accounts  of  the  seraglios  of  the  Hebrew  K 
equalled  only  by  Turkish  harems,  and  some  of  the  passages  in 
tin-  inspired  Book  of  Numbers,  for  instance,  in  which  the  horri- 
ble truthis  frequently  too  evident,  and  only  equalled  by  the  fact 
that  after  lust  had  played  out  its  passion,  unfortunate  women, 
taken  in  captivity,  could,  by  divine  command,  be  turned  adrift 
to  rot  or  starve.  In  Christian  Feudalism  we  find  nothing  much 
better.  If  I  have  read  history  correctly,  and  I  may  1)''  wrong — 
the  upper-grade  women  in  mediaeval  Europe,  who  were  adored, 
not  with  love,  but  with  lascivious  and  sensual  worship,  by  ( Ihris- 
tian  knights  and  troubadours,  and  who,  like  criminals  to  the 
halter,  were  forced,  rarely  with  their  own  consent,  into  the  arms 
of  men  they  disliked  or  had  never  seen,  or  were  placed  in  con- 
ventual houses  against  their  wills.  Of  the  lower-grade  women,  I 
need  only  offer  one  example — and  that  is  sufficient  to  show 
their  awful  degradation ;  the  French  and  German  feudal  lord 
had  the  right  of  cuissage,  or,  in  plain  English,  the  embraces  of 
his  serf-retainer's  bride  on  the  marriage  night. 

Shelley  considered  that  in  consequence  of  all  this,  men  had 
forgotten  their  duties  to  the  other  sex,,  and  that  even  at  the 
time  at  which  he  lived  woman  was  still  in  great  social  bondage, 
improperly  educated,  tied  down  by  restrictions,  and  refused 
participation  in  the  higher  positions  of  labor.  He  called  not  in 
vain,  against  the  inequality  of  the  sexes,  and  asserted  that  wo- 
man's position  must  and  should  be  altered  by  forgetting  the 
tyranny  of  the  past,  and,  be  determined,  for  the  good  of  the 
future. 

We  should  be  rejoiced  that  eloquent  exponents  of  the  abom- 
inations of  former  ages,  the  evils  of  the  present,  and  the  proper 
position  of  the  future,  are  now  hard  at  work.  The  "  Women's 
Eights"  party  is  up  teaching  men  their  duties  on  every  conti- 
nent; in  distant  India,  the  Brahmo  Soma]  is  battling,  nol  vain- 
ly, against  the  horrors  of  the  Zenana,  and  in  conservative  Eng- 
land, which  has  been  stormed,  and  the  forlorn  hope  is  now 
taking  possession  of  the  citadel ;  everywhere  it  is  the  same. 
Yes,  woman,  thanks  to  Shelley  and  the  reformers,  is  about  to  be 
emancipated  and  free  ;  free  to  earn  her  living,  how.  where,  and 
when  she  likes;  the  equal  of  man,  who  shall  no  longer  play  such 
fantastic  tricks  as  he  did  in  the  past,  in  proof  of  his  dignity  and 


44  PERCY   BTSSHE    SHELLET. 

superiority.  The  fourth  of  July  is  uot  long  past  and  gone  ;  I 
trust  that  in  the  dim  vista  of  the  future,  our  descendants  will 
keep  a  national  holiday,  or  a  day  to  be  set  apart  on  which  shall 
be  celebrated  the  "Declaration  of  the  Independence  of  Women," 
and  then,  perhaps,  Shelley's  description  of  woman  in  the  "  Ep- 
isychidion"  will  be  more  apparent: 

"  Seraph  of  heaven  !  too  gentle  to  be  human; 
Veiling  beneath  the  radiant  form  of  woman 
All  that  is  unsupportable  in  thee, 
Of  light,  and  love,  and  immortality." 

I  now  approach  a  very  delicate  portion  of  my  essay :  the  ques- 
tion of  the  marriage  relation.  By  many  it  is  scouted  with  much 
virtuous  indignation,  but  I  conceive  that  the  liberal,  who,  like 
too  many,  dare  not  discuss  this  matter  in  its  broadest  and  widest 
aspects,  should  be  stigmatized  as  unworthy  of  the  name.  Christ 
is  reported  to  have  urged  the  admirers  of  his  ethical  system  to 
take  up  their  cross  and  follow  him,  leaving  father,  mother,  wife, 
children,  and  all  they  may  have— thus  Shelley  acted,  and  it  bears 
as  equally  pregnant  lessons  to  free  thinkers  as  it  did  to  those 
Syrian  fishermen.  Oh,,  that  liberals  had  as  much  "faith"  in 
the  truth,  in  the  efficacy  of  their  cause,  as  the  first  Christians  are 
said  to  have  had  in  the  teachings  of  that  Christ  whom  they  re- 
garded not  as  a  Divinity,  but  as  a  son  of  God,  as  we  to-day  are 
sons  of  God,  of  the  most  high !  Oh,  that  we  could  carry  that 
"faith"  into  our  beliefs,  and  the  determination  to  be  stopped 
at  no  obstacle  which  may  bar  the  progress  of  truth,  which  must 
conquer  in  the  end  ! 

The  favorite  theme  in  the  writings  of  Shelley  is  "Eros,"  love 
of  the  individual,  of  the  race,  of  nature,  and  in  this  he  follows 
Christ,  in  whose  system  of  Philosophy,  Love  is  ever  the  pre- 
dominating idea  which  permeates  mankind  with  its  beneficial 
effects,  and  will,  when  the  bastard  tinsel  with  which  the  truths  of 
the  Nazarene  are  hidden,  be  replaced  by  that  pure  gold  which  it 
is  impossible  to  trace  in  the  enunciations  of  any  previous  phil- 
osopher. This  subject  is  always  present  to  Shelley,  and  he  thus 
appeals  in  one  of  his  poems  to  the 

"  Great  Spirit,  deepest  Love  ! 
Which  rulest  and  dost  move 
All  things  winch  live,  and  are." 


PERCY   BYSSHE    SHELLEY.  ]."", 

In  another  place  lie  inquires — 

"  What  is  love?  Ask  him  who  lives,  what  is  life  ?  Ask  him  who  adores,  what  i 

And  in  the  same  essay  he  describes  love  as 

"  The  bond  and  sanction  which  connects  man    with  man,  and  with  everything 
exists." 

Elsewhere  he  points  out  that  the  attainment  of  love 

"urges  forth  the  power  of  man  to  arrest  the  faintest  shadow  of  that  without  the  possi  I 

of  which  there  is  no  rest  nor  respite  to  the  heart  over  which  it  rules,  (and  thai)  so  soon 
as  this  want  or  power  is  dead,  man  becomes  the  living  sepulchre  of  himself,  and  what  yet 
survives  is  the  mere  husk  of  what  once  he  was." 

Of  such  was  Shelley's  philosophy  of  love,  and  I  would  ask  if 
it  be  conceivable  that  the  abominable  calumny  prompted  by 
theological  virus,  that  he  kept  a  seraglio,  as  his  friend  1. 
Hunt  informs  us  was  reported,  had  any  real  existence.     Shelley 
was  too  pure  for  any  such  idea  as  that  of  promiscuous  sexual 
intercourse  to  be  acted  on  by  himself  ;  his  life,  which  lies  i 
before  us,  refutes  the  diabolical  invention.  The  fact  was,  that  at 
the  early  age  of  nineteen  he  married  Harriet  Westbrook,  the 
daughter  of  aretired  tavern  keeper,  a  woman  without  soul  and 
that  congeniality  of  disposition  which  a  man  overflo  wing  with  the 
pulses  of  genius  should  have  chosen.     After  a  wretched  e 
tence  without  intellectual  sympathy,  and  on  the  advice1  of 
father,  who  did  not  agree  with  his  ideas  on  religion,  they  pi 
by  mutual  consent,  never  to  meet  again.     Shelley  about  this  pe- 
riod met  his  second  wife,  a  woman  of  the  highest  powers  of  mind 
and  charm  of  body,  Mary  Wolstonecraft  Godwin,  the  authoress 
of  Frankenstein  and  other  works,  daughter  of  William  God- 
win,  the  novelist,  and  author  of  Political  Justice  and  Mary 
Wolstonecraft,  the  gifted  writer  of  The  Rights  of  Womt  n.    We 
are  told  by  Lady  Shelley  that,   "To  her.  as  they  met  one  event- 
ful day  in  St.  Pancras  churchyard,  by  her  mother's  grave,  Bysj 
she,  in  burning  words,   poured  forth  the  tale  of  his  wild  past, 
how  he  had  suffered,  how  he  had  been  misled,  and  how,  if  sup- 
ported by  her  love,  he  hoped,  in  future  years,  to  enroll  his  name 
with  the  wise  and  good,  who  had  done  battle  for  their  fellow- 
men  and  been  true  through  all  adverse  storms  to  the  can 
humanity.     Unhesitatingly  she  placed  her  hand   in   his,    and 
linked  her  fortune  with  his  own." 

After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  on  the  solicitation  of  God- 


46  PEECY   BYfeSHE    SHELLEY. 

win,  who  was  anxions  for  the  landed  interests  of  his  grandchil- 
dren, a  legal  union  was  performed.  After  looking  on  this  epi- 
sode, in  the  most  charitable  manner,  I  am  confident  the  stern- 
est moralist  cannot  but  "acknowledge  that  the  passionate  love 
of  a  boy  should  not  be  held  a  serious  blemish,  in  a  man  whose 
subsequent  life  was  exceptional  in  virtue  and  beneficence." 

Believing,  as  I  have  explained,  in  the  divinity  of  love,  Shelley 
regarded  everything  in  the  relation  of  the  sexes  with  the  most 
intense  horror,  which  was  not  consistent  with  "freedom  ;"  and 
by  which  he  most  certainly  did  not  signify  the  license  attributed 
by  many.  When  he  looked  around  and  saw  the  withering  blast 
of  forced  marriages,  conjugal  hatred  and  prostitution,  can  we  be 
astonished  at  his  passionately  exclaiming  : 

"  Even  love  is  sold  ;  the  solace  of  all  woe 
Is  turned  to  deadliest  agony,  old  age 
Shivers  in  selfish  beauty's  loathing  arms, 
And  youth's  corrupted  impulses  prepare 
A  life  of  horror  from  the  blighting  bane 
Of  commerce,  whilst  the  pestilence  that  springs 
From  unenjoying  sensualism,  has  filled 
All  human  life  with  hydra-headed  woes  ?" 

In  a  most  important  essay  bearing  on  this  passage,  which 
should  be  widely  studied,  he  observes  : 

"  Love  is  inevitably  consequent  upon  the  perception  of  loveliness.  Love  withers 
under  constraint  ;  its  very  essence  is  liberty ;  it  is  compatible  neither  with  obedience, 
jealousy,  nor  fear  ;  it  is  then  most  pure,  perfect,  and  unlimited,  where  its  votaries  live  in 
confidence,  equality,  and  unreserve." 

He  then  urges : 

"  A  hnsband  and  wife  ought  to  continue  so  long  united  as  they  love  each  other.  Any 
law  which  should  bind  them  to  cohabitation  for  one  moment  after  the  decay  of  their  affec- 
tion, would  be  a  most  intolerable  tyranny,  and  the  most  unworthy  of  toleration  ;  and  there 
is  nothing  immoi-al  in  this  separation,  for  love  is  free.  '  To  promise  forever  to  love  the 
same  woman,  is  not  less  absurd  than  to  promise  to  believe  the  same  creed." 

He  states  categorically  that 

"  The  present  system  of  constraint  does  no  more,  in  the  majority  of  instances,  than 
make  hypocrites  or  open  enemies.  Persons  of  delicacy  and  virtue,  unhappily  united  to 
those  whom  they  find  it  impossible  to  love,  spend  the  loveliest  season  of  their  lives  in  un- 
productive efforts  to  appear  otherwise  than  they  are,  for  the  sake  of  the  feelings  of  their 
partners  or  the  welfare  of  their  mutual  offspring;  and  that  the  early  education  of  their  children 
takes  it ;  color  from  the  squabbles  of  the  parents.  They  are  nursed  in  a  systematic  school 
of  ill-humor,  violence,  and  falsehood,  and  the  conviction  that  wedlock  is  indissoluble 
holds  out  the  strongest  of  all  temptations  to  the  perverse.  They  indulge  without  restraint 
in  acrimony  and  all  the  little  tyrannies  of  domestic  life,  when  they  know  that  their  victim 


PERCY    BTSSHE    SHELLEY.  -|? 

is  without  appeal.  Tf  this  connection  were  put  on  a  rational  basis,  each  would 
that  habitual  ill-temper  would  terminate  in  separation,  and  would  cheek  this  \ 
dangerous  propensity." 

He  conceived  from  there-arrangement  of  the  marriage  relation 

by  greater  facility  of  divorce  than  was  to  be  had  sixty   3 


'A  fit  and  natural  arrangement  would  result." 


Shelley  by  no  means  asserts  that  the  intercourse  would  be 
promiscuous,  but  on  the  contrary  believed  that  from  the  relation 
of  parent  to  child  a  union  is  generally  of  longer  dura t ion. 
placed  on  such  a  footing,  and  marked  above  all  others  with 
generosity  and  self-devotion. 

We  are  on  the  eve  of  great  religious  changes,  which  must  con- 
sequently disturb  all  the  social  relations.     Historical  Christi- 
anity still  holds  to  her  old  text,  of  marriage  being  a  sacrament, 
and  therefore  indissoluble.     The  founder  of  Comtism  develop- 
ing this  dogma,  urges  that  after  the  death  of  either  lnisl.au 
wife  the  duty   of    the    survivor    is  not    to    re-marry.     Great 
Britain  and  many  of  the  American  States  have  conceded  greater 
freedom  in  divorce,  so  as  to  carry  out  in  a  large  measure  t  h 
guments   of  Shelley,  while  the  theory  of  what  is  termed  the 
' '  sovereignty  of  the  individual ' '  is  propounded  by  the  lead.  1 
the  free  love  party,  as  a  cure  for  the  present  and  former  diffi- 
culties. 

Whatever  may  be  the  outcome  of  the  present  widespread  dis- 
cussions I  know  not,  but  I  have  belief  in  the  supreme  intelli- 
gence and  in  humanity,  and  am  certain  that  neither  the  home  dot 
the  race  will  suffer,  but  that  out  of  all  this  agitation  will  com  • 
more  refined  sentiment  and  truer  morality. 

I  must  now  conclude.  It  has  been  said  that  there  are  two 
things  in  which  the  professors  of  all  theologies  have  agreed — 
"  To  persecute  all  other  sects,  and  plunder  their  own."  Shel- 
ley, who  subscribed  to  no  theology,  was  persecuted  by  them 
during  his  entire  life,  but  he  ever  forgave  his  persecutors,  who 
he  was  confident  acted  through  ignorance  of  his  real  moti 
and  he  tells  us  : 

*  It  should  be  remembered  that  in  Shelley's  day  divorce  was  obtainable  by  the  most 
wealthy  only,  at  an  enormous  cost  and  by  a   lengthy  process,  precluding  the  slight* 
portunity  for  the  middle  and  poorer  classes  to  avail  themselves  thereof. 


43  PERCY   BYSSHE    SHELLEY. 

"  I  have  thought  to  appeal  to  something  in  common  and  unburden  my  inmost  s<  ail  to 
them.  I  have  found  my  language  misunderstood,  like  one  in  a  distant  and  savage  land. 
The  more  opportunities  they  have  afforded  me  for  experience,  the  wider  has  appeared  the 
interval  between  us,  and  to  a  greater  distance  have  the  points  of  sympathy  been  with- 
drawn. With  a  spirit  ill-fitted  to  sustain  such  proof,  trembling  and  feeble  through  its 
tenderness,  I  have  everywhere  sought  sympathy,  and  have  found  only  repulse  and  disap- 
pointment." 

Do  toe  misunderstand  him  ?  I  think  not,  and  William  Howitt, 
a  representative  of  the  people,  shall  answer  for  them:  "For 
liberty  of  every  kind  he  was  ready  to  die.  For  knowledge, 
and  truth,  and  kindness,  he  desired  only  to  live.  He  was 
a  rare  instance  of  the  union  of  the  finest  moral  nature  and  the 
finest  genius.  If  he  erred,  the  world  took  ample  revenge  upon 
him  for  it,  while  he  conferred  in  return  his  amplest  blessing  on 
the  world.  It  was  long  a  species  of  heresy  to  mention  his  name 
in  society  ;  that  is  passing  fast  away.  It  was  next  said  that  he 
never  could  become  popular,  and  therefore  the  mischief  he  could 
do  was  limited.  He  has  become  popular,  and  the  good  he  is  like- 
ly to  do  will  be  unlimited.  The  people  read  him,  though  we  may 
wonder  at  it,  and  they  comprehend  him." 

This  estimate  is  not  overrated,  for,  having  confidence  in  his 
mission  to  humanity,  he  was  fortified  by  the  belief  of  his  exist- 
ing as  an  indestructible  portion  of  interminable  nature  and  the 
universal  mind,  which  in  all  high  intelligences  lives  through  the 
ages,  not  only  in  the  individual  consciousness  of  the  spirit,  but  in 
that  immortality  of  soul  or  mind,  which  lives  in  the  race. 

He  hated  the  superstitions  of  Christian  Fetishism  and  tyr- 
anny over  the  intellect,  but  loved  Christ  and  the  other  philoso- 
phers with  a  genuine  affection  ;  he  loved  humanity,  and  was  ever 
fond  of  examining  its  highest  phases,  as,  for  instance,  through 
the  doctrines  of  perfect  equality  in  the  sexes — yet  he  recognised 
that  sudden  changes  were  prejudicial  before  sufficient  progress 
had  been  accomplished.  "To  destroy,  you  must  replace."  Jus- 
tice he  considered  the  sole  guide,  reason  and  duty  the  only  law. 
His  morality  was  not  that  of  pharasaical  tartuffes,  nor  of  pru- 
dish knickerbockers,  who  with  wide  phylacteries,  sit  in  the  high 
]> laces  to  be  seen  of  men.  He  only  combatted  evil  principles  and 
fought  hard  in  favor  of  good. 

He  has  been  quoted  as  being  too  transcendental ;  he  may  be  to 
dullards  with  imperfect  reasoning  faculties,  or  theologians,  who 
only  see  through  fanatical  and green-monsterish  spectacles,  but 


PERCY    BYSSHE    SHELLEY. 

to  men  who  have  a  Z/«e  philosophy  equally  adapted  to  modem 
well  as  ancient  thought,  he  is  as  clear  as  I  lie  noon-day  sun.  All  thai 
is  required  to  comprehend  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley,  is  Lntegralism 
of  that  high  order  which  has  ever  believed  in  the  ultimate  per 
fee tibility  of  human  nature,  and  looked   "forward  to   a  period 
when  a  new  golden  age  would  return  to  earth,  when  al]  th< 
ferent  creeds  and  systems  of  the  world  would  be  amalgam 
into  one,  crime  disappear,  and  man,  freed  from  shackles,  civil  and 
religious,  bow  before  the  throne  '  of  his  own  awless  soul,'  or  'of 
power  unknown,'  "  whose  veil  it  is  the  ambition  of  theosoph 
raise  for  humanity,  and  remain  the  "inscrutable"  no  longer. 

I  have  completed  my  task,  and  with  humility  I  make  the 
statement,  knowing  that  before  me  are  many  who  could  have 
performed  it  as  completely  as  I  have  crudely.  I  look 
upon  my  essay,  in  which  I  have  treated  my  subject  popularly, 
with  intention,  as  a  beacon,  whence  a  little  light  may  be  s 
dimly,  hoping  that  others,  better  qualified,  will  bring  you  face 
to  face  with  the  full  rays. 

I  have  shown  you  Shelley  in  his  writings,  his  life  and  poetry, 
only  where  they  trench  on  his  philosophical  and  reform  ideas 
I  could  have  related  to  you  much  about  his  inflexibly  moral, 
generous,  and  unselfishly  benevolent  character — his  pure,  gentle 
and  loveable  existence — his  utter  abnegation  of  self,  learnt  from 
the  hermetic  philosophy,  and  his  despisal  of  transitory  legisla- 
tive honors — how  he,  the  heir  to  thousands  of  dollars  annually, 
and  a  baronetage,  threw  aside  pecuniary  considerations  for  love 
of  the  truth  and  benevolence,  *  and  how,  therefrom,  he  was 
often  nearly  dying  of  hunger  in  the  streets.  I  could  have 
treated  him  simply  as  a  poet,  full  of  experienced  impetuosity, 
subtlety  of  expression,  and  precision  of  verse,  but  I  have 
aimed  to  exhibit  one  side  of  his  immortality  to  you,  which  lives 
in  and  by  the  race,  for  humanity. 

*  "  In  his  heart  there  was  nothing  depraved  or  unsound  ;  those  who  had  opportu- 
nities of  knowing  him  best,  tell  us  that  his  life  was  spent  in  the  contemplation  of  nature, 
in  arduous  study,  or  in  acts  of  kindness  and  affection.  A  man  of  learning,  who  shared 
the  poverty  so  often  attached  to  it,  enjoyed  from  him  at  one  period  a  pension  of  a  hundred 
pounds  sterling  a  year,  and  continued  to  enjoy  it  till  fortune  rendered  it  superfluous 
To  another  man  of  letters,  in  similar  circumstances,  he  presented  fourteen  hundred 
pounds  ;  and  many  other  acts  like  these  are  on  record  to  his  immortal  honor.  Himself  a 
frugal  and  abstemious  ascetic,  by  saving  and  economising,  he  was  able  to  assist  the  indus- 
trious poor — and  they  had  frequent  cause  to  bless  his  name." — ATat 


50  PERCY   BYSSHE   SIIELLEY.  , 

Cut  short  in  the  youth  of  manhood,  who  can  tell  what  Percy 
Bysshe  Shelley  might  not  have  become,  living  for  us  even  per- 
haps at  this  moment?  What  need  we  care,  though,  for  does  not 
the  ''Empire  of  the  dead  increase  of  the  living  from  age  to  age  ?" 
Shelley's  terrestrial  body  may  have  been  cast  up  by  the  waves 
on  the  lonely  Italian  shore,  in  sweet  companionship  with  the 
souls  of  Keats  and  Sophocles.  His  mundane  elements,  purified 
through  the  fire,  may  have  returned  to  their  kindred  elements, 
and  been 

"  made  one  with  Nature,  where  is  heard 

His  voice  in  all  her  music,  from  the  moan 
Of  thunder  to  the  song  of  night's  sweet  bird  ; 

He  is  a  presence  to  be  felt  and  known, 
In  darkness  and  in  light,  from  herb  and  stone, 

Spreading  itself  where'er  that  Power  move, 
Which  has  withdrawn  his  being  to  its  own  ; 

Which  wields  the  world  with  never-wearied  love, 

Sustains  it  from  beneath,  and  kindles  it  above." 

His  cinereal  ashes  may  lie  beneath  the  cypresses,  near  the  dust 
of  the  "  Adonais  "  of  his  muse,  under  Roman  sod,  and  where  he 
said  : 

"  To  see  the  sun  shining  on  its  bright  grass,  and  hear  the  whispering  of  the  wind 
among  the  leaves  of  the  trees,  which  have  overgrown  the  tomb  of  Cestius,  and  the  soil 
which  is  stirring  in  the  sun-warm  earth,  and  to  mark  the  tombs,  mostly  of  women  and 
young  children,  who,  buried  there,  we  might,  if  we  were  to  die,  desire  a  sleep  they  seem  to 

sleep." 

All  this  may  have  happened,  but  why  need  we  repine,  for  as 
eternal  as  the  sea,  as  infinite  as  Nature,  and  as  the  phoenix,  he 
revivifying  lives,  transmigrated  and  transfused  into  humanity, 
for  with  certainty  we  know  that 

"  He  lives,  he  wakes — 'tis  Death  is  dead,  not  he." 

Immortal  amid  immortals,  his  spirit  in  communion  with  the 
Most  High,  fully  conscious  in  its  individuality — immortal  amid 
mortals,  his  place  need  never  be  refilled,  for  he  stands  betwixt 
the  old  and  the  new — immortal  amid  the  sons  of  song,  do  poets 
still  breathe  his  divine  afflatus — immortal  amid  philosophers 
and  the  regenerators  of  the  race,  with  Buddha,  with  Moses,  with 
Socrates,  with  Mahomet,  with  Christ — immortal  amid  the  noble, 
the  virtuous,  the  good,  the  wise — immortal  as  when  living  here,  for 
from  spirit-spheres  we  hear  him  bidding  us  repeat : 


PERCY    BTSSIIE    8HELLET.  CI 

"  Nor  let  us  weep  that  our  delight  is  fled 

Far  from  these  carrion-kites  that  scream  below  ; 
He  wakes  or  sleeps  with  the  enduring  dead  ; 

Thou  canst  not  soar  where  he  is  sitting  now. 
Dust  to  the  dust !  but  the  pure  spirit  shall  flow 

Back  to  the  burning  fountain  whence  it  came, 
A  portion  of  the  Eternal,  which  must  glow 

Through  time  and  change,  unquenchably  the  same," 

******** 
"  Peace  !  peace  !  he  is  not  dead,  he  doth  not  sleep — 

He  hath  awaken'd  from  the  dream  of  life — 
'Tis  we,  who,  lost  in  stormy  visions,  keep 

With  phantoms  an  unprofitable  strife  ; 
And  in  mad  trance,  strike  with  our  spirits'  knife, 

Invulnerable  nothings  !" 


FINIS  CORONAT  OPUS. 


To  be  published  by  Subscription,  in  three  volumes  octavo,  of  about 
250  pages  each,  cloth,  with  Portraits  and   Illustrations.     Price,  s--s 


volume. 


LIBERAL    ESSAYS. 


CHARLES    SOTHERAN. 

Asa  wish  has  been  expressed  by  many  of  Mr.  Sotheran's  friends  and 
others,  to  have  a  complete  collection  of  his  miscellaneous  writings  pub- 
lished, it  has  been  determined,  after  careful  consideration,  to  issue  a 
revised  edition  of  his  Essays  under  the  above  title,  in  three  volumes. 
Each  volume  will  consist  of  about  250  pages,  printed  in  good  readable 
type,  and  will  be  illustrated  with  Portraits  and  Wood-cuts. 


LIST   OF   CONTENTS. 

I.  Secret    Societies;    Their   Uses    and    12.  Spiritism  among  the  Greeks,  Romans, 

Druids,   Jews,'  Early  Christians, 
and  Mahometans. 

13.  Mediaeval  Spiritism. 

14.  Spiritism  in  the  last  Three  Centuries. 

1 5.  The  Seal  of  the  Theosophical  Society. 

16.  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley  as  a  Philoso- 
pher and  Reformer. 

17.  The  Sizes  of  Printed  Books  (Re- 
printed from  '  The  Stationers' 
Hand-Book.*) 

Alessandro  di  Cagliostro  :    Impostor 

or  Martyr  ? 
American  Genealogy. 


Abuses. 

2.  The  Jesuits. 

3.  Christism. 

4.  Irish  History  and  Grievances. 

5.  Mirabeau. 

6.  Joseph  Mazzini. 

7.  Woman's  Martyrdom. 

8.  The  Anglo-Saxon  in  Hindostan. 

9.  The  Present  Spiritistic  Crisis. 

10.  Theosophic  Spiritism. 

11.  Spiritism    among    the    Ancients    of 

Egypt,    India,    Chaldea,    Persia, 
and  China. 


18 


19 


Etc.,  Etc.,  Etc. 

The  names  of  those  desirous  of  subscribing  to  the  above  work,  will,  it 
is  hoped,  be  forwarded  at  as  early  a  date  as  possible  to 

Charles  P.    Somerby,   Publisher,    139    Eighth   Street,    New 
York  City. 
Or  to  the  author, 

Charles    Sotheran,  Office  of  the  '  American  Bibliopolist,' 

84  Nassau  Street,  New  York  City. 


BY  THE   SAME    AUTHOR. 

Genealogical  Memoranda  Relating  to  the  Family  of  Sotheron,  of  the  coun- 
ties Durham,  Northumberland,  York,  etc.,  and  to  the  Septs  of  MacManus. 
By  Charles  Sotheran.  Including  many  pedigrees  and  other  documents, 
specially  certified  by  Sir  John  Bernard  Burke,  CB.,  LL.D.,  Ulster  King  of 
Arms,  and  G.  H.  Rogers- Harrison,  Esq.,  Windsor  Herald.  Illustrated  with 
upwards  of  50  Wood  Engravings  of  Arms,  Heraldic  Seals,  and  Fac-simile 
Signatures.  Large  paper,  demy  4to.  91  pages.  Limited  impression  of  100 
copies,  privately  printed.  London,  1871-3.  (New  York  :  J.  Sab  in  &  Sons, 
84  Nassau  St.  .  Price,  $6,  boards,  or  $9  half  morocco  extra.) 

From  the  '■'■Reliquary,  Quarterly  Archaeological  Journal  and  Review?  edited  by 
Llewellynn  Jewitt,  F.S.A.      Vol.  xv.  (1874),  No.  5J,J>J>-  55  and  56  .• 


"  The  name  of  Sotheran,  or  Sotheron,*  is  one  of 
considerable  antiquity,  dating  back  in  the  county  of 
York  to  the  time  of  Henry  the  Third.  The  family, 
not  improbably,  come  through  the  de  Mittons, 
Lords  of  Mitton,  at  the  Conquest,  at  which  time  we 
find  recorded  by  Whittaker,  the  County  Historian, 
one  Ralph  de  Mitton.  From  this  Mitton  the  descent 
of  the  Sotherons  may  probably  be  traced:  Ralph, 
above-named,  was  father  of  another  Ralph,  who  had 
four  sons,  Stephen,  Orme,  Jordan,  and  Sir  Everard  ; 
of  these,  Sir  Everard  de  Mitton  was  ancestor  of  the 
well-known  family  of  the  Mittons,  of  Mitton  and 
Halston,  co.  Salop.  His  brother,  Jordan  de  Mitton, 
was  Lord  of  Mitton,  co.  York,  and  by  Wimaca, 
daughter  of  Ralph  de  Eland,  appears  to  have  had 
issue  Oto  de  Bayley,  Lord  of  Biyley,  from  whom  the 
Sherburnes,  of  Stonyhurst,  paternally  descended,  and 
Hugo  de  Mitton,  Lord  of  Mitton,  who  by  his  wife,  a 
daughter  and  co-heiress  of  Robert  de  Gosnargh,  had 
with  another  a  son,  Sir  Roger  de  Mitton,  donor  of 
the  advowson  of  the  church  of  Mitton  to  God, 
St.  Mary,  and  the  Abbey  of  Cockersand.  From 
Sir  Roger,  the  line  proceeds  through  his  son,  Sir 
John  le  Southern,  of  Mitton,  Steward  or  Bailiff 
to  Queen  Eleanor,  and  the  father  of  Hugh  le  Southern, 

*The  origin  of  the  name  is  thus  explained-  in  "  Our 
English  Surnames;  Their  Sources  and  Signification.  By 
Charles  Wareing  Bardsley,  M.A."  London,  1874,  pp.  122-3  : 

" Apart   from   this,  too.  the   term    '  Le   Noreys,' 

was  ever  applied  in  early  times  to  the  Norwegians,  and  to 
this  sense  mainly  it  is  that  we  owe  the  use  of  the  name. 
And  yet  it  has  another  origin.  It  was  used  in  the  mere 
sense  of  '  northern,'  one  from  the  north  country.  Thus  in 
the  Hundred  Rolls  we  meet  with  the  two  names  of 'Thomas 
le  Noreys'  and  'Geoffrey  le  Northern,'  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  they  should  both  not  have  the  same  rise.  A 
proof  in  favor  of  this  view  lies  in  the  fact  that  we  have  their 
counterparts  in  such  entries  as  'Thomas  le  Surreys '  and 
1  Thomas  le  Southern,'  the  latter  now  found  in  the  other 
forms  of  '  Sothern '  and  '  Sotheran.'  Nor  are  the  other 
points  of  the  compass  wanting.  A  '  Richard  le  Westrys' 
and  a  'Richard  I'Kstrys  '  both  occur  in  the  registers  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  but  neither  J  believe  now  exist " 


whose  son.  Sir  Robert  le  Southern,  inherited  the 
Lordship  of  Mitton  from  the  De  Mittons,  of  whom 
a  good  pedigree,  including  the  de  Bayleys  and  Sothe- 
rons, is  now  in  the  press.  In  1 316,  we  find  by 
Whittaker's  Craven,  the  Nomina  Villarum,  and 
the  Parliamentary  Writs,  thnt  Thomas  Sotheron, 
•vel  le  Southern,  was  found  Lord  of  Mitton  conjointly 
with  the  heirs  of  Sir  Henry  de  Percy.  Thomas 
Sotheron,  last  named,  was  the  son  of  Sir  Robert  le 
Southern,  and  the  father  of  Sir  John  Sotheron,  Lord 
of  Mitton;  by  his  wife,  Johanna,  daughter  of  Sir 
Simon  Cusack,  who  was  summoned  to  Parliament 
48  Edward  III.,  as  Baron  of  Colmolyn,  and  was  a 
grandson  of  Sir  Simon  de  Geynville,  Baron  Colmo- 
lyn (descended  from  the  Gennevilles,  Princes  of 
Joinville,  Counts  Joigny,  Seneschals  of  Champagne, 
etc.)  Sir  John  Sotheran  had  a  daughter,  Isabella,  to 
whom  he  gave  eighty  marks  portion  on  her  marriage 
with  Walter  Hawksworth,  of  Hawksworth,  co. 
York,  Esq.,  ancestor  of  the  Hawksworths,  Baronets; 
and  a  son,  Chrisopher  Sotheron,  Lord  of  Mitton, 
who  was  the  father  of  John  Sotheron,  who  in  1419 
resigned  the  living  of  Upton-cum  Chalvey,  co.  Bucks., 
and  of  Robert  Sotheron,  of  whose  son,  Sir  Robert 
Sotheron,  of  New  Elvet,  Durham,  many  records  re- 
main. He  was  the  father  of  Rowland  Sotheran, 
who  had  with  other  issue  Sir  William  Sotheran,  and 
Capt.  Lewis  Sotheran,  of  H.  M.  Ship  "  Elizabeth  of 
Newcastle,"  whose  son  Christopher  was  father,  by 
his  wife  Isabel  Smythe  (granddaughter  of  Anthony 
Smvtlie,  Esq.,  and  his  wife,  Margaret  Belasyse.  second 
cousin  of  Sir  Henrv  Belasvse,  ancestor  of  the  Earls  of 
Fauconberg),  with  other  issue,  of  Stephen  Sotheron, 
Sheriff  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne  in  I  561,  and  of  Wil- 
liam Sotheron,  merchant  adventurer,  of  that  place. 
This  William  Sotheran  married  Kutherine,  daughter 
of  Ralph  Willy,  of  Haughton-le-side,  of  a  family 
described  by  the  late  Mr.  Surtees,  in  his  History  of 
Durham,  as  "  yeomen-gentry,"  and,  with  other  issue, 


by  her  had  two  sons,  Robert  Sotheran,  of  Ample- 
forth, in  the  county  of  York,  and  William,  who  was 
the  ancestor  of  the  Sotherons  of  Darrington,  the  last 
male  descendant  of  which  family  was  the  late  Ad- 
miral Frank  Sotheron,  of  Darrington.  Robert  Sothe- 
ran had  a  son  of  the  same  name  who  survived  him, 
and  who  in  his  turn  was  succeeded  by  his  son  John, 
who  had  issue:  his  grandson,  Thomas  Sotheran,*  of 
Ampleforth  Outhouses,  was  baptized  in  1700,  and 
died  in  176",  when  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Thomas,  who  was  born  in  1730  and  died  in  1807. 
The  eldest  son  of  the  last  Thomas  was  also  named 
Thomas  Sotheran,  and  was  of  Lewisham,  in  Kent, 
he  was  born  in  1782,  died  in  1866,  and  married 
Maria,  daughter  of  Charles  Price,  of  Newport,  and 
of  Somerset  House.  Esq  ,  and  granddaughter  of  Wil- 
liam Phillips,  Esq.,  of  Witston,  High  Sheriff  of  co. 
Monmouth  ;  he  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  surviving 
«on,  Charles  Sotheran,  Gent.,  of  Trinity  Square, 
Newington,  co.  Surrey,  who  died  in  185  I,  and  mar- 
ked Fanny- Elize,  daughter  of  Henry  John  Hirst, 
Esq.,  of  Howarth  Grange,  and  Clough  Huuse,  Roth 
erham,  of  whose  ancient  descent  a  full  account  will 
be  found  in  Mr.  Foster's  West  Riding  Yorkshire 
Pedigrees,  under  Sherd,  Hirst,  Westby  and  Laugh- 
ton,  by  whom  he  had  issue  two  sons  (one  of  whom, 
Henry,  died  young),  and  a  daughter,  Fanny-Elize, 
who  became  the  wife  of  Stanley  Leigh,  Esq.,  B.C. L., 
M.A.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  and  only 
surviving  son,  Cha.les  Sotheran,  Esq.,  to  whom  the 
world  is  indebted  for  the  excellent  account  of  the 
family  now  before  us,  and  who,  by  his  Marriage  in 
1869  with  Mary  Eva  Mac  Manus,  second  daughter 
of  John  Mac  Manus,  of  Drumbroughas,  Gent.,  by 
his  wife  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Phillip  Mac  Dermot, 
of  Curlough,  unites  the  Sotheran  family  with  that 
of  Mac  Manus  and  a  long  and  illustrious  line  of  Irish 
kings. 

"  We  have  thus  briefly  '  skeletonised  '  the  gene- 
alogy of  the  Sotherans  tor  the  purpose  of  showing  to 
what  an  important  line  the  present  representative  of 
the    family  belongs,  and  what   a   fine  field   of  genea- 

*This  Thomas  Sotheran,  by  Frances  his  wife,  had  a 
»er  sod,  Henry,  who  was  articled  at  York,  to  a  physi- 
cian in  order  lo' acquire  a  knowledge  of  surgery  and  med 
but  preferring  literature  to  physic,  he  about  1760  entered  in- 
to partnership  with  a  well-known  bibliopolist  at  York, 
and  his  descendants  in  that  city  have  continued  in  the  pro- 
fession ever  since  His  nephew-  Thomas  Sotheran  of  Lew- 
isham, was  the  founder  of  the  present  publishing  firm  of 
Henry  Sotheran  &.  Co.,  London. 


logical  research   he   had    before  him  when   hi 
menced   his  task,  and   how  .    it   has  been 

augmented    by  his  alliance  with  tl 

in  whose  veins   runs  the  blood   of  the 

of  '  Connaught  ' — a     title     which,   within    the    past 

few  weeks,  has   been   made  a    Royal  one   in 

son  of  Prince  Arthur — from  Achaius  Moighm 

who  died  in  A.U.  365.  d 

"The   volume   befcre    us,  which    is    the    r 
much   patient  labor  and    of   deep  research,  containi 
pedigrees,   tabulated    and    01 

Darrington,    Ampleforth,    York,     Surrey,     Durham, 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  Holmein-Spaldin 
Howden,  and  elsewhere;   Sotherne  from  the  I 
Visitation  of  1633-4;  Sotheron     ' 
Belasyse,  Earl  of  Fauconberg  ;  Braddyll 
Phillips  of  Witston  ;    Roberts   of  Coeddu,  etc.      De- 
scent of  the   Septs  of  Mac   Manus,  of   Baily-Mac- 
Manus   and    Tir-Tuathail,    from    the   ancient   Kings 
of  Ireland.     Genealogies  of  Mac  Manus  of  Roscom- 
mon, Leitrim,  Fermanagh,  Antrim,  Maynooth,  etc.; 
Maguire,  Prince  of  Fermanagh  ;  .Maguire,  of  Tempo; 
and  Maguire,  Baron  Maguire,  of  Enniskillen.    Notitia 
Sothernia.    Grants  of  armorial  bearings  to  the  Sothe- 
rons of  Yorkshire,  S athernes  of  Shropshire  and  Lon- 
don, Mac    Manuses   of  Antrim,  etc.      Monumental 
Inscriptions  of  Sotheron,  Thompson,  Price,  etc.     In- 
ventories  of  Sotherons  in    the    16th   and    17th   cen- 
turies.      Inq.    post    mort.    of    Robert     Sotheran,    of 
Ampleforth,    1619.        Contemporary    biographies    of 
Admiral  Frank    Sotheron,   Archdeacon   Cathal    Mac 
Manus,  Author    of   the    "Annals    of    Ulster,"    and 
others.      Historical  notices  of  the  Sotherons  au  i  Mac 
Manuses,   from   published  and    original    unpublished 
sources.      Notes  relative  to  the  families   of  I  i 
Dealtry,    Thompson,    Dunch,    1  I 
Proctor,    Smythe,   Ridel,    Forster,    Savile,     1 
Easterby,  Irvine,  Leigh.  Hirst,  Mac  Dermot,  O'Flan- 
agan,    O'Mullally,    Newsome,   Barker, 
verly.  Smdf'ord.   Gale,  Jackson,  v,   and 

numerous  ethers. 

"It  is  illustrated  by  many  engravings  of  armorial 
bearings,  fac-simile  autographs;  seals,  etc.  One  of 
these  we   will    notice.      It   is  the  arms  of  Sotheran  : 

,  a  chevron  between  three  branches   or 
ernwood,  vert}    impaling  Mac  Manu^, 
rampant,  or,  in   chief  three   ere  f.      The 

crest  of  Mac  Manus,  it   should   be  added,  is  a  dexter 
hand,  proper,  holding  a  Calvary  cross  with   a  t: 
at  base,  or" 


"Mr.  Sotheron-Estcourt  presents  his  compliments  to  Mr.  Charles  Sotheran,  and  thanks 
.     him  for  his  enclosure  respecting  the  Sotheron  Family.     Mr.  Estcourt  ; 

of  the  very  interesting  account  in  Quarto  of  the  Family  some  months  ago,  an 

read  it  with  much  pleasure."— The  Right  Honorable  T.ll.  S.  Sotheron-k 

1874. 

"  Please  accept  my  very  grateful  acknowledgments  for  your  exceeding  thoughtful ness 
courtesy  in  presenting  me  with  last  evi 

to  show  you  that  I,  as  an  Irish- American,  fully  appreciate  the  very  unusual  interest  which 
you  have  manifested   in  the  historv  of  my  dear  native  land,  particularly  in  that  ot   the 
'old   stock'  as  represented  by  the  MacManus  sept."— M.  Henm 
Editor  of (JV.Y.)  Times,  Oct.  19.'  1 

C 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 

Alessandro  di  Cagliostro  :  Impostor  or  Martyr  ?  A  Paper  read  before 
the  New  York  Liberal  Club,  May  28,  1875.  By  Charles  Sotheran,  32.-. 
Memphis,  94.'.  Mizraim,  K.  R.  »J«,  K.  Kadosh,  M.  M.  104  and  1,052 
Eng,  etc.  i6mo.  50  pp.  Sewed.  New  York  :  D.  M.  Bennett,  335 
Broadway,  1S75.     Price,  10  cents. 

"  Having  received  numerous  applications  for  copies  of  the  erudite  lecture  on  Count  di  Cagliostro, 
delivered  by  Mr.  Charles  Sotheran,  I  have  consented  to  reprint,  with  a  few  additions',  the  report 
published  in  '  The  Truth-Seeker.'  In  justice  to  the  lecturer,  I  should  state  that  my  abridg- 
ment in  that  periodical,  and  even  the  present  pamphlet,  gives  but  a  general  idea  of  the  actual 
merits  of  the  paper,  which  took  nearly  two  hours  in  delivery,  was  crowded  with  thesis  and  anti- 
thesis, with  considerable  information  relating  to  the  developments  of  Masonry,  Spiritualism, 
and  Rosicrucianism,  and  with  extracts  from  numerous  contemporary  writers  and  historical 
documents,  and  which,  owing  to  space,  I  was,  and  am  even  now,  obliged,  much  loath,  to  greatly 
condense  and  in  certain  instances  to  leave  out  altogether. 

"  As  Mr.  Sotheran  has  only  been  resident  in  America  a  few  months,  and,  therefore,  may  be  unknown 
to  many  of  my  readers,  I  reproduce  a  leading  article  from  the  '  Spiritual  Scientist '  of  June 
10,  1875,  which  refers  not  only  to  the  essayist  s  capabilities  as  a  literary  man,  but  also  to  the 
fact  that  the  Spiritualists  have  accepted  Cagliostro  as  a  former  martyr  to  their  cause  : 

"  '  We  welcome  to  our  columns  a  new  and  most  acceptable  writer— Mr.  Charles  Sotheran,  an  Eng- 
lish author  of  repute,  and  now  the  editor  of  the  American  Bibliopolist.  Mr.  Sotheran  is  a 
gentleman  of  extensive  reading  and  ripe  culture,  who  is  well-known  abroad  as  the  author  of 
several  works  upon  the  genealogies  and  antiquities  of  the  English  counties.  He  has  also  paid 
great  attention  to  the  literature  of  the  occult  sciences,  and  the  article  from  his  pen  which 
appears  in  this  week's  "  Scientist,"  is  a  brief  summary  of  a  most  valuable  historical  paper  which 
he  read  before  the  New  York  Liberal  Club,  the  week  before  last. 

"'The  story  of  Cagliostro's  life,  as  row  given,  affords  us  a  glimpse  at  a  personage  whose  deeds 
and  learning  were  the  wonder  of  his  contemporaries — a  man  of  pure  life,  active  benevolence, 
and,  especially,  of  the  strangest  psychological  powers.  He  could  not  only  read  the  lives  of 
those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  but  prophesy  their  future,  heal  their  diseases,  no  matter 
how  desperate  they  might  seem,  and  call  up  at  his  pleasure  the  shades  of  whomsoever  in  the 
spirit-world  any  person  desired  to  see. 

"  '  He  was  a  philosopher  of  the  highest  rank,  a  friend  of  human  progress,  and  a  most  determined 
enemy  of  the  Papal  establishment.  It  is  not  surprising  that,  having  once  put  himself  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  such  a  merciless  government  as  the  latter,  it  should  adopt  the  flimsiest  pre- 
text to  arrest  and  condemn  him  to  punishment  ;  nor  even  that  it  should  seek  to  blacken  his 
memory  by  circulating  falsehoods  about  him,  which  should  make  his  name  synonymous  with 
charlatanism  and  dishonesty. 

"  '  Thanks  to  the  labors  of  Mr.  Sotheran,  among  the  archives  of  the  French  government,  the  real 
character  of  this  prodigy  of  the  last  century  is  now,  apparently,  displayed  for  our  wonder  and 
instruction.' 

"  Mr.  Sotheran  ranks  high  as  an  historical  critic.  In  evidence  of  this  I  should  mention  that,  in 
addition  to  his  published  works,  numerous  articles  from  his  trenchant  pen  have  appeared  in 
the  pages  of  '  The  Antiquary,'  '  Notes  and  Queries,'  Howard's  '  Miscellanea  Genealcgica  et 
Heraldica,'  and  other  English  magazines.     He  was  also  one  of  the  principal  contributors  to  the 


manry  Cavalry,'  and  Bailey's  '  Life  of  Thomas  Fuller,'  to  which  works,  and  others,  he  has  given 
valuable  assistance. 
In  conclusion,  I  hope  my  readers  will  be  deeply  interested  in  Mr.  Sotheran's  present  valuable 
contribution  to  Biography,  and  I  further  wish  that  he  will  have  that  success  he  so  justly  merits 
in  this  country,  his  new  and  adopted  home." — Proem  to  Pamphlet  by  D.  M.  Bennett,  Editor 
0/  "  The  Truth-Seeker." 


"Many  thanks  for  the  copy  of  your  interesting  Essay  on  Count  Cagliostro.  I  have  read  it  with 
much  interest,  and  think  you  have  treated  the  subject  in  a  masterly  manner." — A.  /"'.  Mott, 
M.D.,  Grand  Master  of  the  A  ncient  and  Primitive  Rite  of  ilfasonry^tiigust  24,  1875. 


"If  he  had  read  history  carefully,  he  would  have  discovered,  with  your  learned  correspondent, 
Charles  Sotheran,  that  '  Joseph  Balsamo,'  the  charlatan  and  swindler,  never  existed  except  in 
the  imagination  of  his  infernal  Romanist  biographers^  while  half  the  sovereigns  and  courts  of 
Europe  recognized  him  as  a  philosopher,  philanthropist,  and  one  of  the  wisest  and  purest  men 
of  his  day." — From  an  Essay  on  "Occultism  and  its  Critics,''  by  ( '<>/.  Henry  S.  1  >i,<>tt,  author 
oj  ^'People  from  the  Other  World"  and  several  works  on  Genealogy,  Agriculture,  and 
Insurance. 

"Mr.  Charles  Sotheran,  a  nephew  of  the  well-known  London  publisher,  who  has  been,  since  his 
arrival  in  America,  in  the  employ  of  the  Messrs.  Salmis  and  Leavitts  (as  a  Bibliographer), 
recently  delivered  a  lecture  before  the  New  York  Liberal  Club,  which  has  since  been  issued  by 
D.  M.  Bennett,  of  335  Broadway,  in  a  ten-cent  pamphlet,  under  the  title  of  '  Alessandro  di 
Cagliostro  :  Impostoror  Martyr?'  Mr.  Sotheran,  while  in  England,  edited  several  genealogical 
and  statistical  publications  wliich  called  forth  praise,  and  he  has  in  contemplation  the  publica- 
tion of  his  essays  on  Irish  History  and  Grievances,  Shelley,  William  Godwin,  American  Gene- 
alogy, etc. —  'The  {N.Y.)  Publishers'  Weekly,  July  17,  1875. 

d 


"The  works  of  the  Hermetic  Philosophers  were  never  intended  for  the   ma 
Sotheran,  one  of  the  mi  lerabers  of  thi 

observe-;:   'Gabriel   Rosetti  in  his  Disquisitions  on  the    \nti-Papal    •■■: 
the  Reformation,  f  speaking  and  writing  in 

interpretation,  i-  uity ;  that  it 

brought  from   thence  by  the   Manichees,  whence  it   passed  to  the    f 
spread  over  Eur   ,  nation.1 " — From  a 

Scientist"  by  Madame  Helena  J'.  Blavatik'  ,  Corresponding  Secretary 
■■ty. 

"  Charles  Sotheran,  an  English  writer  of  some  repute,  but  at  present  editor  of  I  :i  l!ib- 

liopolist,'  gave  a  lecture  before  the  Liberal  Club  in  Ma; 

has  been  published  in  a  c6mo  pamphlet  of  fifty  pages  by  D.  M.  Bennett,      i 
intensely  interesting  story,  though  the  lecture  is  neither  so  fascina;i 
editor  seems  to  imagine.     Mr.  Sotheran  thinks  the   philanthi 
tie  him  to  a  pedestal   1  Howard  or  Wilberforce  ;  and   he 

benevolence  filled  hospitals  of  his  own  creation,  where  his  great  medical  kn 
without  stint  to  those  who  needed  it,  and  who,  when  cured,  were  sent  . 

His  acquaintance  with  geology  and  the  learned  and  abstruse  sciences  in  the 

ranks  of  the  eighteenth-century  pioi  teenth  century  div 

the  fact  that  hi;,  disciples  in  their  unhesitating  reverence,  yet  ignorance,  atti 
cures  and  effects,  to-day  quite  explicable,  but  then  exaggerated  to  length 
miracles  we  read  of  in  Buddhist  and  Christian    hagi  ilogies.     The  assistance   he 
thought  and  his  aid  towards  political  regeneration,  his  hatred  of  the  I 
kingcraft  and   priestcraft,  testified   in  the  dissemination  of  the  princip 
Fraternite,"  should  receive  our  gratitude  equally  with  those  other  p«c 
of  America  and   Europe  owe  the   blessings   enjoyed   to-day.'" — The  (.V.    )'.)  Golden 
A  ugust  7,  1S75. 

"  Mr.  Sotheran  is  a  young  Englishman,  a  devourer  of  books  and  ancient  authorities,  a  man  in  his 
ten-minute  orations  always  ensconcing  himself  behind  an  array  of  formidable  names. — Huxley, 
Darwin,  Mill,  Herbert  Spencer,  and  Tyndall  !    Xo  American  need  apply,     i  genius 

is  Cagliostro." — From  satirical  article  on  the  Neva  York  Liberal  Club,  entitled  "  A  Home  of 
Hobbies"  in  The  (N.  }'.)  Sun,  December  12,  1875. 

"  The  twenty-eighth  issue  of  the  '  Truth-Seeker  Tracts'  (New  York  :  D.  M.  Bennett)  is  Alessan- 
dro  di  Cagliostro  :  Impostor  or  Martyr  ?     By  Charles  Sotheran.     The  tract  con 
ture  delivered  by  Mr.  Sotheran  before  the  Liberal  Club  of  this  city,  and  in  it  he  setks  to  remove 
from  Di  Cagliostro's  name  the  odium  which  he  asserts  has  been  heaped  upon  it,  in 
ure,  by  the  authorities  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.     Di  Cagliostro  has  1  epted 

by  the  Spiritualists,  or  by  some  of  them,  as  a  martyr  of  their  cause.  Some  of  Mr.  Sotheran's 
titles  on  his  title-page  are  somewhat  inexplicable  to  the  average  reader,  and  rather  suggest  the 
Reverend  Homer  Wilbur,  A.  M.  One  of  them  is  '  K.  Kadosh,'  and  another  is  '  M.  M.  104  and 
1052  Eng.'  " — Tiic  [N.  J'.)  Independent,  A  ugust  19,  1875. 

"  At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Xew  York  Liberal  Club  held  in  Plimpton  Hall  last  evening,  a  paper 
entitled  '  Alessandro  Di  Cagliostro  :  Impostor  or  Martyr  ?'  v  as  read  by  Charles  Sotheran,  editor 
of  the  '  American  Bibliopolist.'      According  to  Mr.  Sotheran,  Cagliostro  was  a  philanth 
scientist,  republican,  and  philosopher." — The  (-Y.  I'.i  World,  May  29,  1875. 

"  For  want  of  room,  we  are  compelled  to  greatly  abbreviate  Mr.  Sotheran's  lecture,  and  give  merely 
the  leading  incidents  in  the  life  of  Cagliostro,  thus  depriving  our  readers  of  very  many  of  his  grand 
passages  and  interesting  recitals.     .     .     .     The  paper,  which  took  nearly  two  hours  in  n 
was  one  of  the  most  learned  and  eloquent  the  members  of  the  Club  have  ever  had  the  pi 
of  listening  to.     The  lecturer  was  warmly  applauded  during  its  progress,  and  at  the  conclusion 
he  received  long  and  continued  appli  . .".  Y.)   Truth-S 'eeker,  June  13,  1 

"  The  Other  Side.— Brother  Charles  Sotheran,  of  England,  in  his  lecture  on  Alessandn 
liostro,  put  a  very  different  complexion  upon  the  life  and  workings  of  this  celebral 
or  martyr.     A  pamphlet  published  by  D.  M.  Bennett,  of  335  Broadway,  is  1.  taining 

a  reproduction  of  tiro.  Sotheran's  lecture  on  Di  Cagliostro,  and  would  repay  our  brethren's 
perusal." — The  Corner-Stone  {Masonic),  July  31,  1875. 

'  The  lecture  of  Mr.  Charles  Sotheran,  of  the  'American  Bibliopolist,'  upo-  before 

the  Xew  York  Liberal  Club,  which  was  recently  briefed  in  this  paper,  h  is  I 
M.  Bennett,  335  Broadway,  Xew  York,  of  whom  it  in  iy  be  had  at  ten  cent> 
something  that  every  Spiritualist  should  have,  as  justice  has.  for  the  first  time,  been  done  to 
the  character  and  psychological  gifts  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  and  mediums  who  4 
ever  lived." — The  Spiritual  Scientist  {Boston),  July  15,  1875. 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 

Ancient  Theosophv;    or.  Spiritism    in   the  Past.     A  Lecture  deli 

before  the  Society  of  Progressive  Spiritualists,  Xew  York,  November 
21,  1S75,  and  before  the  Theosophical  Society.  Mutt  Memorial  Hall, 
New  York,  December  i,  1875.  B\  Charles  Sotheran,  Honorary  Libra- 
rian and  Member  of  the  Council  of  the  Theosophical  Society-  In  the 
Press. 

"The  Society  of  Progressive  Spiritualists  held  their  usual  Sunday  evening  i 

Republican  Hall,  West  Thirty-third  street,  and  a  papej  was  read  by  Charles  Sotheran,  one  of 

the  founders  of  the  Theosophical  Society,  on  '  Ancient    I 

mainly  directed  to  the  explanation  of  Theosophy."—  The  \\~.  I'.I  Wt  ■  is'i 


EDITED   BY  THE   SAME. 

Church  Calendar  and  General  Almanack,  for  the  Diocese  of  Man- 
chester, for  the  year  of  our  Lord  1873.  Edited  by  Charles  Sotheran. 
•  Containing  : — A  Calendar  with  the  Daily  Lessons  ;  Information  relating 
to  the  Church,  the  Universities,  and  the  State  ;  A  Complete  List  of  the 
Parishes  and  Clergy  in  the  Diocese  ;  Colleges,  Grammar  Schools,  Educa- 
tional Foundations,  and  School  Boards ;  Diocesan  Societies  and  Chari- 
table Institutions ;  Lancashire  Members  of  Parliament  and  Public  Offi- 
cers ;  the  County  and  City  Magistracy,  and  other  General  Information. 
8vo.  Sewed.  Pp.  viii.,  183.  Manchester,  Eng.  :  W.  Hale,  52  Cross 
Street.  London  :  James  Parker  &  Co.,  377  Strand,  and  Whittaker  & 
Co.,  Ave  Maria  Lane.     Price,  40  cents. 

The  same,  for  1874.     Edited  by  Charles  Sotheran.     Pp.  viii.,  208. 
Price,  40  cents. 

"  Of  the  same  general  character  as  the  Lichfield  and  other  Calendars,  is  that  of  the  diocese  of 
Manchester,  now  for  the  first  time  before  us.  But  though,  as  we  have  said,  of  the  same  gene- 
ral character,  it  is  far  beyond,  and  before,  them  in  usefulness,  in  excellence  of  arrangement,  in 
extent  of  information,  and  in  value  as  a  work  of  reference,  both  in  and  out  of  the  diocese.  Its 
editor,  Mr.  Charles  Sotheran,  is  eminently  qualified  for  the  task,  and  seems  intuitively  to  know 
just  what  is  wanted  in  a  book  of  the  kind,  and  how  to  arrange  it  in  the  most  handy,  conven- 
ient, and  useful  manner.  We  have  not  space  to  go  through  the  contents  in  this  notice,  and 
must  content  ourselves  by  saying  it  is  the  best  of  its  kind,  and  that  it  deserves,  and  has  a  right, 
to  be  extensively  patronized  by  persons  of  every  class  throughout  the  diocese." — The  Reliqu- 
ary {Eng.),  July,  1874. 

"  This  Calendar,  which  is  edited  by  Mr.  Charles  Sotheran,  and  published  by  Mr.  William  Hale,  of 
Cross  Street,  is  too  well-known  to  require  notice  at  our  hands  ;  but  we  are  glad  to  call  atten- 
tion to  some  important  additions  and  modifications  which  appeared  first  in  last  year's  edition, 
and  which  have  been  continued  and  increased  in  the  present  number.  Much  technical  and 
irrelevant  matter  has  been  omitted,  while  more  space  has  been  given  to  matters  of  general 
interest.  There  is,  moreover,  much  useful  information  on  school  boards  and  educational  mat- 
ters, the  columns  devoted  to  the  latter  being  remodelled  from  information  supplied  by  the  Rev. 
P.  J.  Wodehouse,  M.A.,  Diocesan  Inspection  of  Schools." — The  {Manchester)  CritU,  Janu- 
ary 24,  1874. 

"We  have  to  hand  the  Manchester  Diocesan  Church  Calendar  and  General  Almanac,  for  the 
year  1874.  This  most  useful  compendium  of  all  kinds  of  information  concerning  the  Diocese  no 
person  interested  in  Church  and  County  matters  should  be  without.  It  contains,  in  addition  to 
much  other  matter,  a  Calendar  with  the  daily  lessons  ;  copious  information  relating  to  the 
Church,  the  Universities,  and  the  State  ;  a  complete  list  of  the  Parishes  and  Clergy  of  the  Dio- 
cese ;  Colleges;  Grammar  Schools  ;  Educational  Foundations  and  School  Boards  ;  Diocesan 
Societies  and  Charitable  Institutions  ;  Lancashire  Members  of  Parliament,  and  Public  Officers  ; 
the  County  and  City  Magistracy,  etc.,  etc.  The  present  year  is  the  fifteenth  of  its  appearance, 
and  the  Editor,  Mr.  Charles  Sotheran,  seems  determined  that  each  successive  year  the  Church 
Calendar  shall  be  more  copious  and  more  correct.  For  a  work  of  reference  as  to  everything  on 
which  it  professes  to  give  information,  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  a  more  useful  volume  than  this. 
It  is  published  in  Manchester,  by  W.  Hale,  52  Cross  Street  ;  and  in  London,  by  Parker  and  Co., 
and  Whittaker  and  Co.;  the  price  being  one  shilling." —  The  {Manchester)  Free  Lance,  January 
16,  1874. 

1  The  Manchester  Diocesan  Church  Calendar. — The  fifteenth  annual  edition  of  the  Manchester 
Diocesan  Church  Calendar  is  replete  with  valuable  official  information.  The  comprehensive 
volume  is  inscribed  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Manchester,  to  whom  the  Editor  (Mr.  Charles  Soth- 
eran) tenders  his  thanks  for  '  the  sanction  and  assistance  he  has  accorded  to  this  work.'  In  this 
year's  Calendar  several  important  modifications  have  been  made,  and  in  lieu  of  technical  and 
irrelevant  matter,  matters  of  general  interest  have  been  substituted.  The  Church  Calendar  is  a 
perfect  compendium  of  useful  information,  and,  as  a  book  of  reference  on  subjects  appertaining 
to  Church  affairs,  it  is  invaluable.  The  arrangement  is  complete  and  reference  is  easy,  the 
columns  devoted  to  education  in  the  alphabetical  list  of  parishes  have  been  remodelled.  The 
almanac  is  printed  in  clear  type,  and  is  altogether  a  most  useful  production." — The  {Manches- 
ter) Evening-  News,  February  18,  1874. 

f 


1  The  Diocesan  Calendar  makes  its  appearance  under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  Sotheran,  and  with 
very  considerable  enlargements  and  improvements.     As  in   1873  certain  imall  omis  1 will  be 

noticed,  but  they  are  usually  of  irrelevant  and  not   very  useful   matter,  while  in  th 
editor  has  been  able  to  give  a  quantity  of  information  of  general  interest  with 
educational  questions.     The  work  now  contains  the  usual  Calendai      ith  tl 
the  table  of  lessons  according  to  the  new  lectionary,  and  the  usual  aecessbry  i n t"  innation  for  the 
clergy.     Following  this  we  have  elaborately  compiled  statistics  (if  the  Church  in  England,  Ire- 
land, Scotland,  the  Colonies.  India,  and  America,  full  particulars  of  the  Universitit 
logical  Colleges,  Educational,  Missionary,  and  Benevolent  Societies,  the  Houses  of  I.": 
Commons,  and  all  the  usual  general  information  which  is  looked  for  in  a  work  of  this  kind.      1  be 
second  half  of  the  book  relates  to  the  diocese  of  Manchester,  and  is  most  carefully  compili 
information  being,  by  means  of  a  supplementary  page,  brought  down  to  the  end  of  1873. 
the  names  of  the  Oldham  School  Board  are  given  in  this  page,  though  they  were  elected  only 
on  the  20th  of  December  last.     For  the  rest  the  information  appears  to  us  exceedingly  full  and 
clear.     The  account  of  Church  work  in  the  diocese  is  of  special  interest, showing  ai 
Lancashire  Churchmen  are  by  no  means  standing  still.     The  diocese  was  formed 
Bishop  Lee  consecrated  one  hundred  and  thirty  churches  during  his  episcopate.     I>r.  i 
was  consecrated  on  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation,  1870,  and  on  the  23d  of  April  in  that  year  1 
crated  his  first  Church — the  Calderbrook.     Between  that  time  and  August  last  he  consecrated 
no  fewer  than  thirty-three  churches,  besides  six  cemeteries  and  additions  to  churchyar d 
year  ;  eleven  new  ecclesiastical  districts  were  formed  in  1873  ;  four  churches  enlarged 
stored:  and  there  are  now  five  Churches  built,  but  not  ready  for  consecration  ;  four  in  c 
rebuilding  ;  three  being  enlarged  or  restored  ",  ten  building  and  twenty-six  proposed — a  sta' 
of  work  which  few  will  contemplate  without  a  sense  of  satisfaction,  though  possibly  it  may  be 
thought  in  some  quarters  that  more  ought  to  be  done  by  so  wealthy  a  community  as  that  or  the 
Lancashire  cotton  district." — The  {Manchester)  Courier,  January  23,  1874. 

1  Some  important  changes  have  been  made  in  the  compiling  of  the  new  issue  of  this  Calendar,  and 
the  modifications  are  all  of  a  character  to  make  it  more  generally  useful  and  popular.  It  has 
lost  none  of  the  features  which  made  it  acceptable  as  a  Church  Calendar,  but  the  withdrawal  f 
much  technical  and  irrelevant  matter,  in  place  of  which  appears  information  on  subjects  of  more 
general  interest,  such  as  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  magistrates,  members  of  Parliament, 
etc.,  will  increase  its  use  as  a  popular  almanac." — The  (Manchester)  Examiner  and  Times, 
January  17,  1873. 

'  The  '  Manchester  Diocesan  Church  Calendar'— published  by  Mr.  W.  Hale,  Cross  Street — is  this 
year  distinguished  by  the  variety  and  accuracy  of  its  information  on  all  subjects  connected  with 
ecclesiastical  and  educational  affairs  in  the  diocese  of  Manchester.  It  includes,  in  addition  to  a 
calendar  with  the  daily  lessons,  a  complete  list  of  the  parishes  and  clergy,  colleges,  grammar 
schools,  educational  foundations,  school  boards,  charitable  institutions,  and  of  everything  else 
therewith  connected.  Several  important  modifications  have  been  made  in  the  body  of  the  work 
this  year,  with  the  object  of  ridding  it  of  merely  technical  and  irrelevant  matter,  and  giving  in- 
stead more  particulars  of  general  interest,  such  as  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  county  and 
city  magistracy,  members  of  Parliament,  school  boards,  and  so  forth.  The  information  is  con- 
densed, yet  full,  and  so  arranged  as  to  be  handily  got  at." — The  (Manchester)  Evening  News, 
February  10,  1873. 

1  The  'Manchester  Diocesan  Calendar'  makes  its  appearance  somewhat  later  than  usual,  but  will 
be  none  the  less  welcome  to  our  clerical  readers.     The  present  issue  differs  slightly  from  pre- 
vious ones,  inasmuch  as  a  considerable  amount  of  technical  and  irrelevant  matter  has  h<- 
rid  of  and  its  place  is  supplied  with  matters  of  more  general  interest,  such  as  the  names  and  ad- 
dresses of  the  county  and  city  magistrates,  of  the  local  members  of  Parliament,  and  of  the 
school  hoards.     In  addition  to  the  ordinary  diocesan  information  of  the  Calendar  there  is  an 
immense  number  of  details  relating  to  the  Church  of  England  generally  in   England,  Ir< 
Scotland,  the  Colonies,  and  America,  the  latter  of  which  is  worthy  of  attentive  study.     \\ 
tice,  however,  one  omission.   In  former  editions  of  the  Calendar  it  has  been  usual  to  give  the  num- 
ber of  free  sittings  in  each  church  in  the  diocese  :  this  year  the  information  is  omitted.    For  the 
time  it  may  not  be  a  serious  matter  ;  but  in  view  of  the  attacks  which  our  '  dear  Dissenting 
brethren '  are  incessantly  making  on  the  Church  of  England  we  cannot  but  regret  that  valuable 
information  of  this  kind  should  be  left  to  be  sought  for  elsewhere.     Otherwise,  the  inform, 
most  complete,  and  three  items  which  we  cite  will  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  real  strength  of  the 
Church  in  this  district,  and  of  its  rapid  growth  since  Dr.  Fraser  was  consecrated  to  the  see.     In 
the  year  1872  the  bishop  held  54  confirmations,  at  which  were  presented  8,578  candidates 
'males  and  5,287  females.     Since  the  Bishop  came  amongst  us  in  the  spring  of  1S70  he  has 
crated  24  new  churches— at  the  rate,  that  is  to  say,  of  about  one  in  every  six  weeks 
tween  the  formation  of  the  diocese  in  1848  and  the  death  of  Bishop  Lee  163  new  district  pan1... 
and  ecclesiastical  districts  were  formed  and  sittings  for  87,421  persons  were  provided.     lor  the 
future  the  prospect  is  cheering.     There  are,  we  learn,  six  churches  in  the  diocese  built  but  n   t 
ready  for  consecration  ;  four  rebuilding ;  four  in  course  of  -nlar.ement  or  restoration;  nine  in 
course  of  building,  and  twenty-five  proposed.     If  figures  like   these  indicate  weakness  on  the 
part  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  a  decline  of  her  influence,  in  the  'centres  of  intelligence,    it 
would   be  pleasant   to  learn  what  are  the  signs   of  strength.     Possibly  ii  the  tfonconl 
would  make  a  little  more  use  of  such  compilations  as  the  present,  the  world  would  he 
about  the  failure  of  the  Church  of  England  to  accomplish  the  work  which  is  set  before  ber.    — 
The  Manchester  Courier,  January  9,  1873. 

y 


BY  THE   SAME   AUTHOR. 

Percy  Bysshe  Shelley,  as  a  Philosopher  and  Reformer.  By  Charles 
Sotheran.  Illustrations.  8vo,  pp.  vi.,  51.  New  York  :  C.  P.  Somerby, 
139  Eighth  St.,  1875.     (Price  81.25.) 

"  This  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  read  at  the  Liberal  Club,  August  6,  by  Mr.  Charles  Sotheran, 
of  the  '  Bibliopolist.'     .     .     .     The  paper  is  a  fine  one,  and  is  to  be  published. 

"  Without  a  division  into  numbered  parts,  which  would  have  greatly  aided  its  apprehension,  the 
lecture  considered  Shelley's  love  of  freedom  ;  anticipation  of  the  theory  of  evolution  ;  scien- 
tific scholarship ;  real  belief  in  a  Supreme  Intelligence  ;  Pantheism  ;  faith  in  the  true,  though 
not  the  theological,  Jesus  ;  disbelief  in  miracles  and  the  Biblical  account  of  creation;  appre- 
ciation of  the  allegorical  truth  hidden  in  all  religions  ;  hesitancy  about  a  future  state  ;  love  of 
virtue  ;  sympathy  with  Ireland  under  oppression  ;  advocacy  of  Queen  Caroline  ;  desire  to  see 
Protestant  and  Catholic  parties  united  in  humane  efforts  ;  defence  of  labor's  rights  ;  hatred  of 
capital  and  commerce  ;  devotion  to  free  speech  and  rights  of  woman  ;  interest  in  dumb  ani- 
mals ;  and  love  for  the  United  States." — The  (N.  Y.)  Liberal  Christian.  August  21,  1875. 

"  Mr.  Charles  Sotheran,  of  the  '  Bibliopolist,'  has  written  a  book  on  the  poet  Shelley  as  a  philoso- 
pher and  reformer,  which  is  to  be  published  in  a  few  weeks  by  Chas.  P.  Somerby.  Although 
much  has  been  written  of  Shelley  as  a  poet,  his  life  has  never  before  been  presented  as  that  of 
a  thinker  and  a  worker  for  the  benefit  of  humanity.  The  little  volume  now  being  printed  will 
contain  a  sonnet  on  Shelley,  by  C.  W.  Frederickson,  the  well-known  collector  of  Shelleyana,  and 
will  be  embellished  by  a  portrait  and  a  view  of  his  tomb  at  Rome." — The  American  Book- 
sellers' Guide,  December,  1875. 

"  On  the  evening  of  August  6th,  Mr.  Charles  Sotheran  read  an  elaborate  and  interesting  paper 
on  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley,  as  Philosopher,  Statesman,  and  Reformer." — The  (N.  Y.)  Truth- 
Seeker,  Sept.  1,  1875. 

"  We  have  reprinted  the  above  extract  from  the  current  October  number  of  the  '  New  Era,'  con- 
taining the  first  portion  of  the  essay  on  '  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley,  as  a  Philosopher  and  Reformer,' 
by  our  learned  correspondent  Mr.  Charles  Sotheran.  This  essay,  which  has  demanded  a  good 
deal  of  attention  on  account  of  the  bold  tone  therein,  and,  as  our  readers  know,  usual  with  the 
writer,  will  be  published  in  a  separate  volume." — The  Spiritual  Scientist  (Boston),  October 
14,  1875. 

"  Mr.  Sotheran's  interesting  paper  on  Shelley." — The  (N.  Y.)  Liberal  Christian,  Oct.  9,  1875. 

"  Admirers  of  the  poet  Shelley  will  doubtless  be  interested  to  learn  that  C.  P.  Somerby  has  nearly 
ready  for  issue  '  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley  as  a  Philosopher  and  Reformer,'  by  Charles  Sotheran.  ' 
—  The  Publishers'  Weekly,  Decetnber  4,  1875. 


BY  THE   SAME   AUTHOR. 

American  Genealogy.  A  Paper  prepared  for  the  "  American  Bibliopo- 
list," and  read  by  desire  before  the  New  York  Genealogical  and  Bio- 
graphical Society,  at  the  Mott  Memorial  Hall,  New  York,  January  13, 
1875,  by  Charles  Sotheran.  (A  few  copies  of  the  number  of  the  "  Bib- 
liopolist "  containing  the  above  essay,  are  still  to  be  had  from  J.  Sabin 
&  Sons,  84  Nassau  Street,  New  York.     Price,  25  cents.) 

"  The  Genealogical  and  Biographical  Society  held  its  annual  meeting  last  evening  in  the  Mott 
Memorial  Library.  A  paper  was  read  by  Charles  Sotheran  on  the  History  of  American  Gene- 
alogy. The  following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year :  President,  Edward  F.  De 
Lancey  ;  First  Vice-President,  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Callaghan  ;  Second  Vice-President,  Gen.  George 
S.  Greene;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Charles  B.  Moore  ;  Recording  Secretary,  Martin  H.  Staf- 
ford ;  Treasurer,  Dr.  Samuel  S.  Purple  ;  Librarian,  Joseph  S.  Brown  ;  Registrar  of  Pedigrees, 
the  Rev.  Beverley  R.  Betts  ;  Trustees,  David  P.  Holton,  John  J.  Latting,  and  Charles  B. 
Moore." — The  {N.  Y.)  Tribune,  January  14,  1875. 

"  '  The  American  Bibliopolist '  for  February  contains  a  paper  on  '  American  Genealogy,'  by  Charles 
Sotheran."  —  The  (Philadelphia)  Evening  Telegraph,  March  15,  1875. 

"  There  is  also  an  admirable  article  by  Charles  Sotheran,  on  '  American  Genealogy,'  a  subject  he 
seems  fully  competent  to  handle.  This  article  was  originally  read  before  the  members  of  the 
American  Genealogical  and  Biographical  Society;  and  in  it  he  playfully  alludes  to  'Boss 
Tweed ' — assuming,  as  he  had  the  impertinence  to  do  during  his  short-lived  eminence  of 
iniquity,  the  armorial  bearings  of  the  Marquis  of  Tweedale — and  Jay  Gould,  disporting  the 
ancient  cognizance  of  Jason,  to  wit,  a  '  Golden  Fleece  Proper.'  Several  other  noteworthy 
articles  are  included  which  we  have  not  space  to  specialize,  reflecting  the  highest  credit  on 
the  '  Bibliopolist,'  which  we  wish  '  long  and  continued  success.'  "—The  (JV.  Y.)  South,  April 
10,  1875. 

"  Mr.  C.  C.  Dawson  has  published  a  600-page  genealogy  of  that  name,  and  the  magazine  approves 
such  research,  if  only  to  prevent  men  like  Boss  Tweed  assuming  armorial  bearings,  as  he  did 
those  of  the  Marquis  of  Tweedale.  or  as  Jay  Could  the  cognizance  of  Jison," — The  Ncrth 
American  and  United  States  Gazette  {Philadelphia),  March  16,  1875. 


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Attention  is  particularly  called  to  the  criticisms  of  the  press,  which  speak  well  as  to  the  position  occu- 
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The  American  Bibliopolist,  in  its  present  improved  form,  every  man  with  a  literary  taste  will  thoroughly  enjoy. 
It  is  well  edited,  and  has  always  a  rich  collection  of  bibliomaniacal  items. — Louisville  Courier- Journal,  Dec.  26-27,  '71. 

The  July  and  August  number  of  the  American  B^liopolist  is  out,  and  contains  the  fourth  installment  of  tin'  ".Handy 
Book  about  Books,"  with  much  antiquarian  lore  and  literary  gossip,  such  as  an  account  of  the  origin  of  the  names  of 
States,  etc.— Publishers'  Weekly,  1874. 

The  American  Bibliopolist  is  invaluable  to  those  who  wish  to  be  kept  acquainted  with  events  of  permanent  interest 
in  the  library  world,  and  particularly  to  those  who  are  interested  in  the  curiosities  of  literature.— N.  Y.  Methodist. 

The  Bibliopolist  is  admirably  edited,  I  suppose  by  "our  senior,"  learned  in  bibliography.  Thank  you  for  all  that 
you  sent  me. — S.  Austin  Allibone. 

TheAMERiCAN  Bibliopolist,  in  addition  to  a  great  variety  of  interesting  literary  announcements,  abounds  with  bib' 
liographieal  and  antiquarian  details,  which  cannot  fail  to  gratify  the  curiosity  of  the  patient  book  wnnn.-.V.  V.  Tribune. 

J.  Sabin  &  Sous  have  brcught  their  American  Bibliopolist  to  a  point  of  great  Interest,  as  a  "Repository  nf 
and  Queries"  ;  and  every  lover  of  curious  inquiries  into  the  origin  of  words,  customs,  etc.— in  short  all  antiquities 
of  a  literary  character  or  bearing — ought  to  pos^ess  this  ingenious  and  useful  magazine.—  Christian  Union. 

This  publication,  though  nominally  addressed  to  book-buyers,  furnishes  a  large  amount  of  curious  and  entertaining 
information  for  all  lovers  of  literature.    It  is  not  the  mouthpiece  of  =-.^y  set,  and  its  criticisms  of  catalogues  an  I 
are  refreshingly  independent  and  piquant. — Nation. 

A  Register  6f  the  Progress  of  Literature,  which  enjoys  a  vide  popularity  for  the  spice  and  vinegar  which  season  its 
pages. — Evening  Telegram.  ...  .        ,  ,.  .  ,,        ,     ,. 

The  American  Bibliopolist  is  the  only  real  "  Literary  Register"  issued  in  this  country.    In  addition  to  its  va 
listsof  rare  old  books,  and  its  catalogues  of  new  ones,  the  Bibliopolist  contains  monthly  correspondence  on  all  - 
literary  subjects,  and  from  all  quarters.    A  most  interesting  and  important  feature  of  this  work  is  in  its  departm  ntol 
"Notes  and  Queries,' in  which  curious  words,  old  traditions,  ancient  customs,  and  other  subjects  in  which  antiquaries 
delight,  are  discussed  by  correspondents  among  themselves  —School  Journal. 

The  Department  entitled  "  Notes  ami  Queries."  of  tin-  A  HERIOAN  BIBLIOPOLIST  is  a  repository  for  all  sorts  of  out  of  the 
way.  and  at  the  same  time  interesting  literary  information.-  College  Courant. 

To  a  manor  woman  engaged  in  literary  pursuits,  such  a  work  as  this  is  simply  invaluable,  combining,  as  it  d 
features  of  the  London  "  Notes  and  Queries."  with  a  complete  catalogue  of  the  work.-  issued  from  the  British  and 
can  Press  during  the  month.    It  is  printed  on  fine  toned  paper,  and  is  just  the  work  to  gladden  the  heart  ot  the  book- 
No  Bibliopole  should  neglect  to  subscribe  to  this  publication;  its  interest  and  value  to  him  is  almost  Inestimable. 
It  gives  notice  of  some  of  the  most  noticeable  new  books,  literary  gossip,  some  curious  '*  notes  and  queries,    inl 
correspondence  on  a  variety  of  topics,  and  some  valuable  articles  on  subjects  relatio    to  III  rature.— Phtladtlphxa  In./utrrr. 

The  "Bibliopolist  is  undoubtedly  the  most,  interesting  and  worth  preserving  literary  record  within  our  knowledge. 

Sabin's  Bibliopolist  contains  its  us&j>1  literary  feast  of  notes  and  queries,  and  some  interesting  correspondence. 

—Jewish  Messenger. 

J.   SABIN   &  SONS,  Publishers,  84  Nassau  St.,  New  York 
14  York  St.,  Covent  Garden,  London,  W.  C. 


LIST   OF   RADICAL    AND    REFORM   WORKS 
Published  by  CHAELES  P.  SOMEEBY,  139  Eighth  St.,  New  York, 

(A  few  doors  east  of  Broadway). 


The  Martyrdom  of  Man 

By  WINWOOD  READE. 
I'Jmo.  Cloth,  543  pp.    Postpaid,  $3. 


CONTENTS: 

Under  the  head  of  "War,"  we  have:  Egypt, 
The  Water  Harvest,  The  Sources  of  the  Nile. 
Philosophy  of  Leisure,  Agricultural  Monog- 
amy, Inequality  of  Men,  Famine  the  Mother 
of  Astronomy,  Cruelty  the  Nurse  of  Civiliza- 
tion, Trial  of  the  Dead,  the  Painted  Tomb, 
Children  of  the  Desert,  The  Horse  of  War,  The 
Terrible  Sahara,  Pharaoh  Triumphant,  Egyp- 
tian Country  House,  The  Luxury  Question,  The- 
ology Stops  the  Way,  Empire  of  Ethiopia,  The 
India  Trade,  The  Persian  Shepherds,  The  King's 
Harem,  Origin  of  Greek  Genius,  Their  Religion, 
The  City  of  the  Violet  Crown,  The  University  of 
Egypt,  Seraglio  Intrigue,  Retreat  of  the  Ten 
Thousand,  Tyranny  of  Athens,  Alexander  at 
Babylon,  Two  Faces  Under  One  Hat,  A  Greek 
Voltaire,  The  Purple  Trade,  Discovery  of  the 
Atlantic,  Introduction  of  the  "A,  B,  C,"  The 
Colonies  of  Carthage,  The  Gardens  of  the  Hes- 
perides.  Home  Rule  of  Rome,  The  House  of 
Baal,  Silver  Spain,  The  Poor  Hated  Old  Man, 
Roman  Baden  Baden,  Cato's  Little  Farm,  A 
Dissolute  Prig,  Africa's  Place  in  History,  Civ- 
ilian" War. 

Under  the  head  of  "Religion":  Ghost  Wor- 
ship, Divine  Hybrids,  Idolatry  and  Dollatry, 
Who  Made  God  ?  Nature  in  the  Nude,  The  Sheik 
Abraham,  Moses  in  Exile,  The  Delphi  of  the  He- 
brews, Pope  Samuel,  A  God-intoxicated  Man, 
A  Pious  Brigand,  By  the  Waters  of  Babylon, 
Character  of  Jehovah,  Character  Improves, 
Origin  of  the  Devil,  A  Monopolized  Deity, 
Bright  Side  of  the  Character  of  Jesus,  Dark 
Side,  The  Miracle  Doctor,  The  Ghetto,  Rome 
Sleeping,  Heavenly  Illusions,  Episcopal  Saliva, 
The  Wonderful  Well,  The  Truce  of  God,  Achieve- 
ments of  Mahomet,  Negro  States,  The  African 
Hut,  Dance  Ordeal,  School,  Philosophy  of  Salt, 
Bagdad  of  the  West,  Negroes  in  Mecca,  The 
Black  Prophet,  Turks  in  Africa. 

Under  the  consideration  of  "Liberty,"  he 
shows  us  :  The  Ancient  Germans,  The  Castle  an 
Academy,  The  Serfs,  The  Monks,  The  Crusades, 
Venice,  Arab  Spain,  The  Hill  of  Tears,  Ortho- 
dox Geography,  India,  Prester  John,  Lisbon 
Rejoices,  Majestic  Crime,  Slavery  in  London, 
The  Methodists,  Giants  and  Pigmies,  Thomas 


Paine,  Cotton,  Neck  and  Neck,  W.  L.  (Jarrisor.. 
Rebellion  of  the  North,  The  Lost  Cause,  Future 
of  Africa,  Future  of  the  Earth,  Origin  ol  Man, 
Tailed  Minds. 

In  the  consideration  of  "  Intellect  "  he  intro- 
duces :  The  Children  of  the  Sun,  Origin  of  Life. 
History  of  the  Cell.  Dawn  of  Reason,  Origin  of 
Love,  The  Ghost  Religion.  Origin  of  Priests. 
Invention  of  Hell,  Musical  Conversation,  The 
Why,  The  Utility  of  the  Affections,  Breeding 
Laws,  Death  of  Sin,  Origin  of  Chastity.  Horn.; 
and  China,  The  Buddhist's,  The  Age  of  "the  Ro- 
sary; War  in  the  Future,  The  Expedient  of  Re- 
ligion, Fallacies  of  the  Commune,  American 
Prosperity,  Inventions  of  the  Future,  Theory  of 
the  Soul.  Duties  of  a  Creator,  The  Theorv  Ex- 
ploded, Should  the  Truth  be  Told?  Christianity 
Exposed,  The  Catastrophes  of  Progress,  Moral 
Value  of  Hell-Fire,  True  Sources  of  Morality, 
Spurious  Virtues  of  Theology,  The  True  Relig- 
ion, The  Last  Sacrifice." 

PRESS   NOTICES: 

It  is  really  a  remarkable  book,  in  which  uni- 
versal history  is  "  boiled  down  "  with  surprising 
skill.  .  .  The  boldest,  and,  so  far  as  Histor- 
ical argument  goes,  one  Of  the  ablest,  assaults 
ever  made  upon  Christianity.— [Literary  World. 

His  history  has  a  continuity,  a  rush,  a  carry- 
ing power,  which  remind  us  strikingly  of  Gib- 
bon.— [New  Haven  Palladium. 

The  sketch  of  early  Egyptian  history,  in  the 
first  chapter,  is  a  masterpiece  of  historical  wri- 
ting. He  has  a  style  that  reminds  us  of  Macan- 
lay.— [Peim  Monthly. 

You  turn  over  his  pages  with  a  fascination 
similar  to  that  experienced  in  reading  Washing 
ton  Irving. — [Inter  Ocean. 

To  readers  who  are  attracted  by  the  Darwin- 
ian literature,  this  book,  with  its  quaint  declara- 
tion that  "Life  is  bottled  sunshine,"  may  also 
be  recommended.— [Pittsburgh  Eve.  Chronicle. 

Whoever  would  be  jostled  Into  attention,  and 
led  into  on  wonted  channels  of  thought,  will  t'n.d 
this  volume  full  of  interest  and  often  01 
—[New  Covenant. 


^IDV^lVCJElVEElNrT    OF   SCIENCE. 

Tyndall's  Belfast  Inaugural  Address, 

AND   THE 

Famous  Articles  of  Prof.  Tyndall  and  Sir  Henry  Thompson 

ON    PRAYER. 

WITH  PORTRAIT  AND  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH    OP  PROF.  TYNDALL.      AND   opinions   OP   HIS   SERV- 
ICES  BT    THE    EMINENT   SCIENTIST   PROP.   II.   11  Kl.M  1IOLTZ. 

Postpaid,  Paper,  50  cts.;  Cloth,  $1.    Inaugural  and  Portrait,  Paper,  25  cts. 


"Prof.  Tyndall  has  inaugurated  a 

new  era  in  scientific  development, 
and  has  drawn  the  sword  in  a  battle 
whose  clash  of  arms  will  presently 
resound  through  the  civilized  world. 
Prof.  Tyndall  Crosses  the  Ru- 
bicon.— It  is  the  opening  address  of 


the  President  of  the  most  important 
convention  of  scientific  men  in  the 
world.  Every  line  of  it  breathes 
thought,  power,  eloquence. . .  .It  is 
in  many  respects  one  of  the  moel  ex- 
traordinary utterances  of  our  time. — 
JY.  Y.  Tribune. 


ANCIENT  FAITHS  EMBODIED  IN  ANCIENT  NAMES ; 

OR  AN   ATTEMPT   TO   TRACE  THE 

RELIGIOUS  BELIEF,  SACRED  RITES,  AND   HOLT   EMBLEMS 

of  Certain  Nations,  by  an  interpretation  of  the  Names  given  to  Children  by  Priestly  Authority,  or 
Assumed  by  Prophets.  Kings,  or  FHerarchs.  By  Thomas  Inman.  M.D.,  late  President  of  the 
Liverpool  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  etc  Two  vols..  1914  pp.,  svo.  Bevera]  hundred 
Illustrations.    Sent  by  express  (expressage  unpaid),  $20.00. 

"To  those  who  thirst  after  knowledge,  and  are  not  deterred  from  seeking  it  by  the  fear  ot 
imaginary  dangers,  th's  volume  is  inscribed,  with  great  respect,  by  the  author." 


Raiical  ana  Reform  Publications  by  C,  P,  SomerbyL139  8tb  St.,  B.  Y. 
ISSTJES~OF~THE T  AGE ; 

Or,  Consequences  Involved  in  Modern  Thought. 

By  HENRY  C.  PEDDER. 
12mo,  Extra  Cloth,  Beveled,  Gold  Back,  and  Side  Stamp.     Postpaid,  $1 .50. 


The  author  of  this  volume  has  evi- 
dently kept  company  with  many  of 
the  finer  spirits  of  the  age,  until  his 
mind  has  become  imbued  with  the 
fragrance  of  their  thought.  He  has 
excellent  tendencies,  elevated  tastes, 
and  sound  aspirations. — New  York 
Tribune. 

He  has  brought  the  fruits  of  a  large 
culture  and  extensive  reading,  and  a 
mind  unusually  calm  and  thoughtful, 
to  bear  upon  the  questions  which  are 
agitating  the  hour. — N.  Y.  World. 


Mr.  Pedder  is  not  one  of  those  rad- 
icals who  rail  at  the  Christian  relig- 
ion. Indeed,  his  rationalism  has 
throughout  a  sweet  "reasonable- 
ness," and  is  not  the  fierce  dogma- 
tism of  those  positive  souls  who 
would,  with  Voltairean  directness, 
"crush  the  infamousone." — Christian 
Register  (Boston). 

A  truly  able  discussion  of  the  sub- 
jects which  most  vitally  concern  the 
higher  nature  and  larger  life  of  man. 
— Chicago  Evening  Journal. 


IRON-CLAD  AND  MANUA  SEEIES. 


IRON-CLAD    SERIES. 


Cts. 


No, 

1  Atonement.    Charles  Bradlaugh, 

2  Secular  Responsibility.    G.  J.  Holyoake, 

3  Christianity  and  Materialism  Contrasted. 

Underwood, 

4  Influence  of  Christianity  on  Civilization. 

Underwood, 

5  Gleanings   from    Parker,  Frothingham, 

Voysey,  and  others.    Winans, 

6  Miscellaneous  "Index"  Tracts, 

7  Buddhist  Nihilism.    Prof.  Max  Mueller, 

8  Religion  of  Inhumanity.    F.  Harrison, 

9  Relation  of  Witchcraft  to  Religion.  Lyall,    15 

10  Epidemic  Delusions.    Marvin.    Cloth,       50 

11  Philosophy  of  Spiritualism.    Marvin,         50 

12  Tyndall's  Belfast  Inaugural,  and  Portrait,  25 

13  Essay  on  Miracles.    David  Hume,  10 

14  Land  Question.    Charles  Bradlaugh,  5 

15  Were  Adam  and  Eve  our  First  Parents  ? 

Charles  Bradlaugh,  5 

16  Why  do  Men  Starve  ?    Chas.  Bradlaugh,     5 

17  Logic  of  Life,  Deduced  from  the  Principle  of 

Freethought.     George  J.  Holyoake,       10 
IS  A  Plea  for  Atheism.    Chas.  Bradlaugh, 

19  Large  or  Small  Families  ?    A.  Holyoake, 

20  Superstition  Displayed,  with  a  Letter  of 

Wm.  Pitt.    Austin  Holyoake, 
£\  Defense  of  Secular  Principles.    C.  Watts, 

22  Is  the  Bible  Reliable  ?    Charles  Watts, 

23  The  Christian  Deity.    Charles  Watts, 

24  Moral  Value  of  the  Bible.     Chas.  Watts, 

25  Free  Thought  and  Mod.  Progress.  Watts 

26  Christianity :  Its  Nature,  and  Influence  on 

Civilization.    Charles  Watts, 

27  Essays  Before  Free  Relig.  Ass'n.    1873, 

28  Thoughts  on  Atheism.  Austin  Holyoake, 

29  Is  there  a  Moral  Governor  of  the  Uni- 

verse ?    Austin  Holyoake, 

30  Philosophy  of  Secularism.    Chas.  Watts, 


No.  Cts. 

31  Has  Man  a  Soul  ?    Charles  Bradlaugh,  5 

38  Is  there  a  God  ?    Charles  Bradlaugh,  5 

39  Labor's  Prayer.    Charles  Bradlaugh,  5 

40  Poverty  :  Its  Cause  and  Cure.    M.  G.  H.,  1ft 

41  Miscellaneous  Sermons.    Frothingham,  10- 

42  Science  and  Bible  Antagonistic.    Watts,  10 

43  Christian  Scheme  of  Redemption.  Watts,  5 

44  Logic  of  Death  ;  or,  Why  Should  the  Atheist 

Fear  to  Die.    George  J.  Holyoake,  10 

45  Character  of  Christ.    Charles  Watts,  5 

46  Atheism  and  the  Gloucester  Execution. 

Charles  Watts,  5 

47  Poverty  :  Its  effects  on  the  Political  Con- 

dition of  the  People.    Bradlaugh,  5 

MANNA  SERIES. 

1  Original  Manna  for  "  God's  chosen,"  5 

2  B.  F.  Underwood's  Prayer,  per  dozen,         10 

3  New  Life  of  David.    Chas.  Bradlaugh,        5 

4  Why  I  was  Excommunicated.    Barnard,    20 

5  200  Questions  Without  Answers,  5 

6  Dialogue  between  a  Christian  Missionary 

and  a  Chinese  Mandarin,  10 

7  Queries  Submitted  to  the  Bench  of  Bish- 
ops by  a  Weak  but  Zealous  Christian. 


All  postpaid.    For  $2  we  will  send  to  one 


10 

8  Search  After  Heaven  and  Hell.  A.  Holyoake,  5 

9  New  Life  of  Jonah.    Chas.  Bradlaugh,        5 

10  A  Few  Words  about  the  Devil,    "  5 

11  New  Life  of  Jacob,  5 

12  Daniel,  the  Dreamer.    Austin  Holyoake,    10 

13  Specimen  of  the  Bible :  Esther,      "  10 

14  Acts  of  the  Apostles  :  A  Farce,      "  10 

15  Ludicrous  Aspects  of  Christianity,  "  10 

16  Twelve  Apostles.    Charles  Bradlaugh,         5 

17  Who  Was  Jesus  Christ  ?  "  5 

18  What  Did  Jesus  Teach  ?  "  5 

19  New  Life  of  Abraham,  "  5 

20  New  Life  of  Moses.  .  "  5 

21  A  Secular  Prayer.  A.  Holyoake.  Per  doz.  10 
address  $2.25  worth,  and  $6  worth  for  $5. 


Philosophy  of  Spiritualism,  and  the 

Pathology  and  Treatment  of  Mediomania. 
By  F.  R.  Marvin,  M.D.,  Professor  of  Psycho- 
logical Medicine  and  Medical  Jurisprudence  in 
New  York  Free  Medical  College  for  Women. 
Postpaid,  Cloth,  $1. 

There  is  no  way  of  getting  rid  of  Infidelity  till 
some  way  is  devised  of  abolishing  the  doctors. 
And  here  is  another  point:  he  says  the  special 
indulgence  in  religious  exercises  undermines  the 

fabric  of  morality So  the  poor  clergy  and  the 

religious  get  bethwacked  on  every  hand!.... Is 
there  no  punishment  that  can  be  properly  inflict- 
ed on  a  physician  who  boldly  assails  theology 
mid  its  devotees  in  this  relentless  maimer? — 
[Daily  Graphic. 

The  Childhood   of    the  World.    A 

Simple  Account  of  Man  in  Early  Times.  By 
Edward  Ci.odd,  F.R.A.S.  Postpaid,  Paper, 
50  cts .:  Cloth,  75  cts. 


The  Religion  of  Inhumanity.    A 

Criticism.  By  Frederic  Harrison.  Post- 
paid, 20  cts.  "  A  caustic  criticism  on  a  sort  of 
new-fangled  Calvinism." 

Secular  Responsibility.    By  Geo.  J. 

Holyoake.    Postpaid,  5  cts. 

"  I  wish  to  place  on  record  my  conviction  that 
belief  cannot  now  be  defended  by  reticence  any 
more  than  by  railing,  or  by  any  privileges  and 
assumption." — Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone. 

Religious  Positivism.  A  Brief  Expo- 
sition of  the  System  of  Worship,  of  Faith  and 
ol  Life  propounded  by  Auguste  Comte.  "Love 
our  Principle,  Order  our  Basis,  Progress  our 
End."    By  11.  EnoEit.    Postpaid,  Paper,  60c. 

Epidemic  Delusions.  By  Frederic  R. 
Marvin,    Postpaid,  Limp  Cloth,  so  cents. 

Ancient  Sex  Worship.  25  Illus.  Gold 
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